Writing Balance Rule: The illness enclosure radical (疒) wraps gracefully over the top and left side, leaving the right side (牜/𤣩 components) neatly nested underneath and inside without touching the outer walls.
1. Meaning
thin or lean
to lose weighttight fitting (of clothing)lean (of meat)unproductive or barren (of land)
Adjective / VerbNeutral#physical state#body shape#food and nutrition
Sample Usage
他最近瘦了很多。
tā zuìjìn shòule hěn duō.
He has lost a lot of weight recently.
我要买瘦肉。
wǒ yào mǎi shòuròu.
I want to buy lean meat.
2. Sound
/[ʂoʊ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51
瘦
shòushou4
|
++
`(51)
=shòu
Initial Consonant
sh
Type: Retroflex Fricative
Sounds like: sh (retroflex sibilant)
UnaspiratedRetroflex
Airflow Tactile Test: Hollow wind sound through curled tongue channel.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near hard palate, creating a friction path for air.
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)
5 → 1 (51)
4th Tone (High-Falling)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, identical to a sharp, emphatic command or a disappointed 'No!' in English.
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse the retroflex sh sound with the dental s sound (which sounds like an English 's'). Ensure the tongue curls back slightly.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Make a sharp downward chopping gesture with your hand from high to low, mirroring the abrupt drop of Tone 4.
3. Writing
Topology: Semi-enclosure · Strokes: 10 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The illness enclosure radical (疒) wraps gracefully over the top and left side, leaving the right side (牜/𤣩 components) neatly nested underneath and inside without touching the outer walls.
4. Components
Radical疒 · Sickness Radical (illness or bed)
Semantic Clue (形旁):疒 (Indicates a bodily condition or wasting state.)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):叟 (original sound: sǒu)
An elderly person (叟) who is confined or wasting away inside a sickbed (疒) becomes very thin (瘦).
疒 sickness / body condition
叟 elderly man / phonetic clue
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
12· Phonetic Root: 叟 (sǒu)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Originally combined the sickness radical (疒) to denote body wasting with 叟 (elderly man) acting as the phonetic sound component indicating the 'shou' sound.
Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to a wasted, sickly thin body state, later expanding to describe lean meat, tight clothing, and barren soil.
The phonetic component 叟 originally depicted an old man holding a cane, adding a sense of frailty.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
sấu
Mandarin Tone 4 corresponds to Vietnamese falling or heavy tones.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ソウ (sō) / Kun: や.せる (yaseru)
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
수
Sound Shift Bridge: The initial sh- in Mandarin often corresponds to s- or sh- in related Sinitic borrowings.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine an old grandfather (叟) who fell ill in bed (疒) and lost so much weight that he became extremely thin (瘦).
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
嫂
sǎoelder brother's wifeUses the woman radical (女) instead of the sickness radical (疒).
搜
sōuto searchUses the hand radical (扌) instead of the sickness radical (疒).
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
嫂(sǎo)
嫂 has the woman radical (女) for sister-in-law, whereas 瘦 has the sickness radical (疒) for being thin.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
他最近减肥成功，看起来比以前___多了。
Clue: shòu
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the tone 4 drop with tone 3 dipping, or miswriting the right-hand side component (叟) inside the sickness enclosure.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see 瘦, what does it mean and how is it pronounced with tones?
Production: How do you write the character for 'thin' (shòu) using the sickness radical?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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瘦shòuthin
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