省 (shěng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

省

shěng[sheng3]Tone 3

province / to save / to omit

HSK 2

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · province / to save / to omit

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (少) is slightly narrower and narrower than the right side (目), ensuring both halves balance neatly within an imaginary square.

1. Meaning

province

to save or economizeto omit, delete, or leave outa government ministry

Noun / VerbNeutral#geography#finance#administration

Sample Usage

广东省
Guǎngdōng shěng
Guangdong Province
这样可以省很多时间。
Zhèyàng kěyǐ shěng hěn duō shíjiān.
This way can save a lot of time.

2. Sound

/[ʂɤŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

省

shěngsheng3

ˇ(214)

=shěng

Initial Consonant

Type: Retroflex Fricative

Sounds like: sh sound with retroflex tongue curl

UnaspiratedRetroflex

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near hard palate

Final Rhyme

eng

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -eng rhymes with 'ung' in sung

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

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

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips down like a deep valley before rising up, similar to a disbelieving English 'Really?'.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone, shěng changes to a 2nd tone (shéng).

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex 'sh-' with the alveolar 's-'. Ensure your tongue curls back.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Start mid-high, dip down low to your chest as you register the bottom of the dip, then sweep upward toward the sky like a checkmark.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (少) is slightly narrower and narrower than the right side (目), ensuring both halves balance neatly within an imaginary square.

4. Components

Radical 目 · Eye Radical (eye, look)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 目 (Relates to looking closely, inspecting, or examining carefully)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 少 (original sound: shǎo / shěng)

Composed of 少 (few/little) on the left and 目 (eye) on the right. Keeping 'few' things in 'sight' means to economize, save, or omit unnecessary details.

少 few, little (provides phonetic and partial meaning clue for reducing/saving)
目 eye (provides semantic clue for inspection, supervision, or administrative division)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

13· Phonetic Root: 少 (shào)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally derived from combining 少 (little) and 目 (eye), signifying examining with a critical eye to reduce or inspect closely. Over time, it came to mean inspecting administrative regions, leading to its modern geographical sense of 'province'.

Semantic Evolution: From 'to inspect / examine closely' to 'to omit / make less' and 'to economize / save', and finally extended to mean an administrative province (an inspected territory).

Historically used as a term for imperial inspection tours or administrative offices.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

tỉnh

Tỉnh uses the hỏi tone, corresponding roughly to the Mandarin 3rd dipping tone.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ショウ (shō), セイ (sei) / Kun: はぶ.く (habu.ku), かんが.みる (kanga.miru)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

성

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine using your **eye** (目) to make sure you have very **few** (**少**) items left on your shopping list, helping you **save** money and **omit** unnecessary purchases across the **province**.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

省

shěngprovince, saveBase character with eye (目)

眚

shěngflaw, eye diseaseUses illness or ground components above eye

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

看(kàn)

看 has a hand (手) over the eye (目) to mean 'to look/watch', whereas 省 has 'few' (少) next to the eye (目).

者(zhě)

者 looks very similar on top to 少, but ends with a horizontal base rather than the trailing dot strokes of 少.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我住在中国广东省的[___]会广州。

Clue: shěng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left component 少 with similar radicals like 木 or 未, leading to incorrect stroke order and proportions.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 省, what are its three primary semantic pillars in daily Chinese?

Production: How do you write the character for 'province / to save' (shěng) using 少 and 目?

省shěngprovince / to save / to omit

Speed:

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