摔 (shuāi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

摔

shuāi[shuai1]Tone 1

to fall / to throw down

HSK 5

Guru Deep Dive

English · to fall / to throw down

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (Hand radical) should be compact and narrower, allowing the right phonetic component plenty of breathing room to maintain overall structural balance.

1. Meaning

to fall, tumble, or drop and break

to throw down with forceto slam against something

VerbNeutral#motion#accidents#physical actions

Sample Usage

他走路不小心，摔了一跤。
tā zǒu lù bù xiǎoxīn, shuāi le yījiāo.
He walked carelessly and took a fall.
别把盘子摔碎了。
bié bǎ pánzi shuāisuì le.
Don't drop and break the plate.

2. Sound

/[ʂuai̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

摔

shuāishuai1

¯(55)

=shuāi

Initial Consonant

Type: Retroflex Fricative

Sounds like: retroflex sh sound (like English 'sh' with tongue curled back)

UnaspiratedRetroflex

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip is curled back toward the hard palate, creating a narrow passage for friction without touching.

Final Rhyme

uai

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with 'why'

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

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

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays at the highest pitch level of your vocal range, similar to a sustained musical note or a flat line at the top of your voice.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial 'shu-' with the alveolar initial 'su-', or confusing Tone 1 (high flat) with Tone 4 (sharp falling).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a high, steady plateau. Make a flat horizontal hand gesture high in the air, imagining a singer holding a high note steadily.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (Hand radical) should be compact and narrower, allowing the right phonetic component plenty of breathing room to maintain overall structural balance.

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand Radical (hands, physical actions, manipulation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (indicates an action performed with the hand (throwing, dropping))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 率 (original sound: shuài)

A hand (扌) reaches out to grab or release something at a rapid rate or rate of descent (率), leading to throwing something down or taking a sudden tumble.

扌 Hand radical (left side)
率 Rate / phonetic clue (right side)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 率 (lǜ)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) showing physical action and 率 acting as the phonetic component indicating pronunciation and a sense of swift motion or dropping.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring to casting or throwing objects down, the meaning naturally broadened over time to include accidentally falling or dropping items that break.

The right component 率 itself historically depicted a net used for catching birds, which contributed phonetic stability to various characters.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

With your hand (扌), you accidentally DROP and throw (shuāi) a fragile ceramic bowl that falls at a high speed rate (率) onto the floor, smashing into pieces!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

率

shuàirate, ratioBase phonetic component without the hand radical.

蟀

shuàicricket (insect)Adds the insect radical (虫) on the left for crickets.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

率(shuài)

Missing the left-hand radical (扌). Means rate or ratio.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

小明跑步时不小心[___]倒了。

Clue: shuāi

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting the left-hand radical (扌) and mistakenly writing only the right side (率), or confusing Tone 1 with Tone 4.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 摔 mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to fall / to throw down' (shuāi)?

摔shuāito fall / to throw down

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0