Meaning of 鼠
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- (bound form) rat; mouse
How to use 鼠
鼠 is a bound form, so in everyday speech people say 老鼠 (lǎoshǔ) for a rat or mouse rather than 鼠 alone. It also appears in many animal names and in 鼠标 (shǔbiāo), a computer mouse. Example: 我的鼠标坏了。(Wǒ de shǔbiāo huài le.) My mouse is broken.
Picture 鼠 (shǔ) as a drawing of a rat: the top part looks like a head with sharp teeth, the little marks below look like feet, and the final curving stroke is the tail.
Common mistake: Learners often say 鼠 alone to mean "a mouse" in conversation. Use 老鼠 (lǎoshǔ) with the measure word 只 (zhī): 一只老鼠. Also note the third tone in shǔ, which is easy to confuse with shù (树, tree).
鼠 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
鼠 shǔ · rat · 13 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 鼠.
| 鼠标 | shǔbiāo | (computing) mouse |
| 老鼠 | lǎoshǔ | rat; mouse (CL:隻|只[zhi1]) |
| 松鼠 | sōngshǔ | squirrel |
| 仓鼠 | cāngshǔ | hamster |
| 小老鼠 | xiǎolǎoshǔ | @; at symbol |
| 袋鼠 | dàishǔ | kangaroo |
| 鼹鼠 | yǎnshǔ | mole (zoology) |
| 黄鼠狼 | huángshǔláng | see 黃鼬|黄鼬[huang2 you4] |
| 花栗鼠 | huālìshǔ | chipmunk (genus Tamias) |
| 小白鼠 | xiǎobáishǔ | white mouse; lab mouse; lab rat |
| 负鼠 | fùshǔ | opossum (zoo.) |
| 鼠辈 | shǔbèi | a scoundrel; a bad chap |
Questions about 鼠
What does 鼠 mean?
鼠 (shǔ) means "(bound form) rat; mouse" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 鼠?
鼠 is made of 1 character: 鼠 (13 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.
Is 鼠 an HSK word?
Yes. 鼠 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Does 老鼠 mean the rat is old?
No. The 老 (lǎo) in 老鼠 is just a prefix and does not mean old. Any rat or mouse, even a baby one, is a 老鼠.
Why is a kangaroo called 袋鼠?
袋鼠 (dàishǔ) literally means "pouch rodent" because of the pouch, 袋 (dài). Similarly, 松鼠 (sōngshǔ) is a "pine rodent," a squirrel, and 仓鼠 (cāngshǔ) is a "storehouse rodent," a hamster.