剩 (shèng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

剩

shèng[sheng4]Tone 4

to remain, to be left, to have as remainder

HSK 5

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to remain, to be left, to have as remainder

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (乘) slightly narrower and taller, and the right component (刂) balanced as a vertical anchor on the right side.

1. Meaning

to remain or be left over

to have as a remainder in arithmetic

VerbNeutral#quantity#state#math

Sample Usage

桌子上剩了一个苹果。
zhuōzi shàng shèng le yī gè píngguǒ.
There is one apple left on the table.
吃不完就打包带走，不要剩。
chī bù wán jiù dǎbāo dài zǒu, bù yào shèng.
If you can't finish eating, pack it to go; don't leave any leftovers.

2. Sound

/[ʂəŋ⁵¹]/Tone: 51

剩

shèngsheng4

`(51)

=shèng

Initial Consonant

Type: Retroflex Fricative

Sounds like: sh sound with tongue curled back

UnaspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: Hollow wind sound through curled tongue channel.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate without touching it

Final Rhyme

eng

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -eng rhymes with rung

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'uhng'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 drops sharply from high to low pitch, similar to an emphatic English command like 'Stop!'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial 'sh-' with the alveolar initial 's-', or confusing '-eng' with '-an' / '-ang'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, like nodding 'Yes!' firmly.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (乘) slightly narrower and taller, and the right component (刂) balanced as a vertical anchor on the right side.

4. Components

Radical 刂 · Knife Radical (knife, cutting, dividing)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 刂 (Indicates cutting or separating off a portion, leaving the rest behind.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 乘 (original sound: chéng / shèng)

The character combines 乘 (to multiply / ride) on the left with 刂 (knife) on the right, suggesting that after cutting or taking away parts of a quantity, what is multiplied or left over remains.

乘 Provides the phonetic clue and relates to amounts/multiples
刂 Semantic knife radical indicating separation or remainder

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 乘 (chéng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Formed as a phono-semantic compound where 乘 provides the sound and basic association with grouping/quantities, while 刂 (knife) signifies cutting off a portion so that a remainder is left.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to remnants after division or cutting, expanding in modern Chinese to general leftovers, remaining time, or mathematical remainders.

The phonetic component 乘 originally depicted a person climbing a tree, which later evolved into meanings of riding or numerous amounts.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

thặng

The entering/checked tone correspondence maps to modern sắc or nặng depending on historical register.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ジョウ (jō) / Kun: 余.る (ama.ru)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

잉

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use a knife (刂) to slice up a massive pile of multiplication items (乘), and whatever is sliced off and not eaten becomes the leftovers (剩).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

乘

chéngto ride, to multiplyWithout the knife radical on the right.

剩

shèngto remainAdds the knife radical (刂) on the right.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

乘(chéng)

Missing the vertical knife radical (刂) on the right side.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

吃了这碗饭，还[___]下一碗。

Clue: shèng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the tone (using Tone 3 instead of Tone 4) or forgetting the knife radical 刂 on the right.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 剩 mean and how is it pronounced in Tone 4?

Production: How do you write the character meaning 'to remain' (shèng), featuring the knife radical?

剩shèngto remain, to be left, to have as remainder

Speed:

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