HanziGuru.售 · shòu
售
shòu[shou4]Tone 4

sell

HSK 4
Guru Deep Dive

English · sell

Cached lesson
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Topology:Top-bottom
Strokes:11
Writing Balance Rule: The top component (士 or similar root structure) should be compact, while the bottom part (隹) needs to be wide and stable with balanced wing-like strokes.
1. Meaning

to sell; to retail

to carry out (a plan or intrigue etc, literary)
VerbNeutralBound morpheme#commerce#business#action
Sample Usage
  • 售票处
    shòupiào chù
    ticket office; box office
  • 零售
    língshòu
    to retail; retail sale
2. Sound
/[ʂoʊ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51
售
shòushou4
++
`(51)
=shòu
Initial Consonant
sh
Type: Retroflex Fricative
Sounds like: sh sound with retroflex tongue position
UnaspiratedRetroflex
Airflow Tactile Test: Hollow wind sound through curled tongue channel.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near hard palate
Final Rhyme
ou
Vowel Group: -o vowel group
Sounds like: -ou rhymes with oh
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oh'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T4 (51)
4th Tone (High-Falling)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply down, exactly like shouting an authoritative 'NO!'
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex shòu with the dental sòng or shou3 (3rd tone).
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp karate chop downwards representing a definitive drop in pitch from high to low.
3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (士 or similar root structure) should be compact, while the bottom part (隹) needs to be wide and stable with balanced wing-like strokes.

4. Components

Radical 士 · Scholar / Officer Radical (scholar, person)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 隹 (Short-tailed bird or property/goods being exchanged in early trade tokens.)

A scholar or merchant (士) stands over goods or valuable items (隹) to sell them in the marketplace.

  • 士 person or scholar
  • 隹 short-tailed bird / goods
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined elements indicating giving up or transferring ownership of valuable property or birds.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from general transfer or offering of items to the modern specific meaning of 'to sell'.

  • Often used in compound words relating to commerce and ticket sales in modern Mandarin.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
thụ
Thanh nặng (falling glottalized tone in Vietnamese corresponds roughly to Tone 4 in Mandarin).
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: シュ / Kun: う.る
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
수
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story

A scholar (士) brings precious captured birds (隹) to the market to SELL them for a high price.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
售
shòuto sellBase character for selling
输
shūto lose / transportReplaces top with vehicle radical (车)
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
输(shū)
输 has the car/cart radical (车) on the left for transporting goods, whereas 售 has the scholar/person (士) on top.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
这家商店今天开始[___]新产品。
Clue: shòu
Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 售 (shòu - to sell) with 买 (mǎi - to buy), which look somewhat similar to beginners due to vertical box structures.

Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does the character 售 mean and how is it pronounced with tone?
Production: How do you write the character for 'to sell' (shòu) with its 11 strokes?
Real-World Video Context

Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.

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