Writing Balance Rule: The top horizontal stroke acts as the stabilizing roof, while the remaining descending strokes splay outward gracefully to provide a solid, balanced base.
1. Meaning
to lose, to miss, to fail
to omitto slipto transgress
VerbNeutral#action#failure#change
Sample Usage
我失业了。
Wǒ shīyè le.
I lost my job.
不要失去信心。
Bù yào shīqù xìnxìn.
Do not lose confidence.
2. Sound
/[ʂʐ̩⁵⁵]/Tone: 55
失
shīshi1
|
++
¯(55)
=shī
Initial Consonant
sh
Type: Retroflex Fricative
Sounds like: sh (retroflex sh sound like in 'shh')
UnaspiratedRetroflex
Airflow Tactile Test: Hollow wind sound through curled tongue channel.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate
Final Rhyme
i (-i*)
Vowel Group: -a vowel group
Sounds like: buzzing i sound after retroflex consonants
Note: Written as 'i (-i*)', pronounced as rounded 'i' [y].
Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'zh-' (jr) with final '-i' (rr/zz).
Common Learner Trap: Do NOT pronounce '-i' as 'ee' after zh-! Keep your tongue in the consonant position and buzz 'rr/zz'.
Tone
T1 (55)
5 → 5 (55)
1st Tone (High-Flat)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is high and level (55), maintaining a flat pitch without dipping or rising.
👂
Listening trap: Beginners often mistake the retroflex initial 'sh-' for the alveolar 's-', or confuse the high level tone with a rising tone when speaking quickly in a sentence.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is like singing a high, flat musical note at the top of your vocal range, like a steady drone on a piano.
3. Writing
Topology: Single character · Strokes: 5 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The top horizontal stroke acts as the stabilizing roof, while the remaining descending strokes splay outward gracefully to provide a solid, balanced base.
4. Components
Radical大 · Big Radical (big, a person)
Semantic Clue (形旁):手 (Originally depicted a hand letting something slip through fingers)
Picture a hand holding something valuable, but the fingers open up and the item slips away.
𠂇 sliding stroke / hand gesture
夫 man / adult
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
11· Phonetic Root: 失 (shī)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: In Oracle Bone script, the character originally depicted a person dropping or letting go of something from their hand. Over time, the strokes stylized into the modern form representing loss and omission.
Semantic Evolution: From the physical act of dropping an object or letting it slip through fingers, it broadened metaphorically to losing opportunities, failing tests, and missing targets.
The character appears in classical texts frequently denoting a breach of duty or protocol.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
thất
Checked tone ending in -t corresponding to entering tones in Middle Chinese
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: シツ / Kun: うしな.う
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
실
Sound Shift Bridge: Shared ancient Chinese roots yield Sino-Xenic readings like 'shitsu' in Japanese and 'sil' in Korean.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
A big person (大) with a falling hand (𠂇) watches their keys slip away and feels they are about to LOSE everything.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
秩
zhìorder, official salaryAdded grain/rice radical (禾) representing orderly harvest distribution.
铁
tiěironAdded metal radical (钅) for iron.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
先(xiān)
xiān (first) has vertical hooks and legs pointing inward, whereas shī (to lose) has a sweeping right-falling tail.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
我们千万不能[___]信心。
Clue: shī
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the stroke order of the top horizontal stroke and the subsequent sweeping drops, leading to an unbalanced glyph.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does the character 失 mean when you see it in compound words like 失败 or 失去?
Production: How do you write the character for 'to lose' (shī) using 5 strokes?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
Search theme
Accent preference
Results are live YouTube search — accents and levels aren't verified.
失shīto lose
Speed:
Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...