熟 (shú) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

熟

shú[shu2]Tone 2

ripe, cooked, familiar, thorough

HSK 2

Guru Deep Dive

English · ripe, cooked, familiar, thorough

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:15

Writing Balance Rule: The upper part (享) is wide and spread out, while the lower part (灬) is compact and centered at the bottom to anchor the heavy glyph.

1. Meaning

ripe or cooked

familiar or well-acquaintedthorough or deep (as in sleep)skilled or experienced

AdjectiveNeutral#food and cooking#relationships#knowledge and experience

Sample Usage

饭熟了。
fàn shú le.
The food is cooked.
我跟他很熟。
wǒ gēn tā hěn shú.
I am very familiar with him.

2. Sound

/[ʂu³⁵]/Tone: 35

熟

shúshu2

´(35)

=shú

Initial Consonant

Type: Retroflex Fricative

Sounds like: sh sound in 'shoe' with tongue retroflexed

UnaspiratedRetroflex

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back toward the hard palate without touching it, creating friction.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: oo sound in 'boot'

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts in the middle pitch and rises sharply to the top, exactly like asking 'What?' in English disbelief.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 3 syllable, shú changes to a rising tone but does not become a full Tone 2, though in casual speech it is often treated as Tone 2.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial 'sh-' with the alveolar 's-', or confusing the rising tone with Tone 4 falling tone.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving upward from chest level to eye level, matching the inquiring pitch of Tone 2.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 15 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The upper part (享) is wide and spread out, while the lower part (灬) is compact and centered at the bottom to anchor the heavy glyph.

4. Components

Radical 灬 · Fire Radical (fire, cooking, heat)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 灬 (indicates the heat required to cook food until ripe)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 享 (original sound: xiǎng / shú sound bridge)

At the top stands a building or enjoying table (享), and at the bottom is fire (灬). When food is cooked over fire inside, it becomes ripe and ready.

享 phonetic clue and upper element representing an offering or enjoyment
灬 semantic fire indicator at the bottom

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 孰 (shú)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combining the sound of enjoyment/offering (享) with fire (灬), depicting food being cooked over a fire until it is done and ready to eat.

Semantic Evolution: From food being cooked until 'done' or 'ripe', the meaning extended to experiences, knowledge, and relationships that have become 'fully developed' or 'familiar'.

The character also has an alternate literary reading shou2 in certain regional dialects, though shú is standard in Mandarin.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ジュク / Kun: う.れる

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You put food into the kitchen fire (灬) while enjoying (享) the delicious prospect of a meal that is fully RIPE and cooked.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

熟

shúripe, familiarBase character with fire at the bottom

享

xiǎngto enjoyWithout the fire dots at the bottom

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

热(rè)

热 means hot and uses the 执 component on top, whereas 熟 has 享 on top and refers to ripeness or familiarity.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这个苹果还没[___]，不能吃。

Clue: shú

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the tone with the first tone or fourth tone, and misremembering the complex top component 享.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 熟 mean when describing a person you know well?

Production: How do you write the character for 'ripe/cooked' (shú) with 15 strokes?

熟shúripe, cooked, familiar, thorough

Speed:

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