塑 (sù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

塑

sù[su4]Tone 4

to model in clay, plastic

HSK 4

Guru Deep Dive

English · to model in clay, plastic

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The upper component (屰) must be compressed slightly to make room for the large '土' base at the bottom, maintaining a stable vertical center.

1. Meaning

to model (a figure) in clay

plastic (synthetic material)to moldto sculpture

Verb / Bound MorphemeNeutralBound morpheme#art#materials#manufacturing#action

Sample Usage

塑料
sùliào
plastic
雕塑
diāosù
sculpture

2. Sound

/[su⁵¹]/Tone: 51

塑

sùsu4

`(51)

=sù

Initial Consonant

Type: Dental Fricative

Sounds like: s sound like in 'sun'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Clear, steady sibilant hiss.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tip of the tongue lightly touches behind the lower front teeth, creating a narrow slit for air to hiss gently.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: oo sound like in 'boot'

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

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 starts high and drops abruptly to the bottom of your vocal range, mirroring an emphatic 'No!' or a sharp command.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the unvoiced alveolar sibilant initial 's-' with the retroflex 'sh-'. Ensure the tongue stays flat behind the teeth.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful downward hand chop matching the high-to-low dropping pitch of Tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The upper component (屰) must be compressed slightly to make room for the large '土' base at the bottom, maintaining a stable vertical center.

4. Components

Radical 土 · Earth Radical (earth, soil, ground)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 土 (Indicates that modeling or sculpting historically involves earth, mud, or clay.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 屰 (original sound: niè / sù)

The character combines the upper phonetic/action element (屰, representing motion or reversal) with the bottom radical '土' (earth), depicting the act of shaping earth or clay into statues.

屰 Phonetic clue and indicator of shaping or reversing form
土 Semantic base representing clay or earth

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

6· Phonetic Root: 朔 (shuò)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed to describe molding figures out of clay or earth. The lower component '土' anchors the material aspect, while the upper component provides the phonetic sound and the idea of transforming shape.

Semantic Evolution: Over time, 'sù' expanded from clay modeling to include any form of molding, sculpting, and eventually modern synthetic materials like plastics (塑料).

Ancient Chinese sculptors primarily used clay and mud for religious statues and burial figures, hence the earth radical.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ソク (soku) / Kun: つ・くる (tsukuru)

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine an artist kneeling on the EARTH (土) upside down and backwards (屰), furiously molding and modeling clay into a masterpiece.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

塑

sùto model, plasticBase character with earth (土)

溯

sùto go upstreamUses water radical (氵) instead of earth

槊

shuòlong spearUses weapon radical (木/戈) at the bottom

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

溯(sù)

溯 has the water radical (氵) because it means tracing a river upstream; 塑 has the earth radical (土) because it involves modeling clay.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

买水杯的时候，我们要留意它是不是用环保[___]做的。

Clue: sù liào

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 塑 (sù) with 叔 (shū) or mixing up its radical with water (氵) which belongs to its lookalike 溯 (sù).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 塑 in 塑料 or 雕塑, what does it signify?

Production: How do you write the character for modeling/plastic (sù) using earth and its phonetic part?

塑sùto model in clay, plastic

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