税 (shuì) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

税

shuì[shui4]Tone 4

tax

HSK 6

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稅

Guru Deep Dive

English · tax

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (禾) should be slightly narrower and compressed to leave ample room for the more complex right component (兑), keeping the overall character vertically balanced.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 稅 uses 兌 on the right, which remains identical in simplified Chinese.

1. Meaning

tax, duty, levy

tariffcustoms dutytribute

Noun / VerbNeutral#economy#government#finance

Sample Usage

交税
jiāo shuì
to pay taxes
税收
shuì shōu
tax revenue

2. Sound

/[ʂu̯eɪ̯˥˩]/Tone: 51

税

shuìshui4

`(51)

=shuì

Initial Consonant

Type: Retroflex Fricative

Sounds like: sh sound in 'shoe' with tongue curled back

UnaspiratedRetroflex

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate, air flows frictionally over the groove.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: -way sound as in 'way'

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

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

Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: ui is short for uei

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply to the bottom, matching an authoritative command or a firm statement like 'No!'.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial 'sh-' with the alveolar initial 's-'. Ensure your tongue curls back for 'shuì' rather than flattening out for 'sùi'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, decisive karate chop downwards from head height to waist height, representing a fixed government tax deduction.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 稅 uses 兌 on the right, which remains identical in simplified Chinese.

4. Components

Radical 禾 · Cereal / Grain Radical (Grain, crops, harvest)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 禾 (Indicates that taxes originally referred to agricultural grain tributes harvested from the fields.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 兑 (original sound: duì / shuì)

Combining the grain radical (禾) on the left with the exchange/cash component (兑) on the right creates the concept of turning your harvested grain over as tax payments.

禾 Grain / crop semantic clue
兑 Exchange / conversion phonetic clue

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed to describe the ancient practice of paying agricultural taxes in the form of grain crops harvested from farms.

Semantic Evolution: From ancient grain tributes paid to feudal lords, the meaning broadened into modern monetary taxes, duties, and tariffs levied by governments.

In ancient China, taxes were overwhelmingly collected in physical commodities like grain and silk rather than minted currency.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ゼイ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

세

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

To pay your **tax** (**shuì**), you must take your harvested **grain** (禾) and **exchange** (兑) it with the tax collector.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

说

shuōto speakReplaces grain (禾) with speech radical (讠), meaning words exchanged.

脱

tuōto take offReplaces grain (禾) with flesh/body radical (月), meaning shedding clothing.

锐

ruìsharpReplaces grain (禾) with metal radical (钅), meaning sharp metal.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

说(shuō)

税 has the grain radical (禾) for taxes/crops; 说 has the speech radical (讠) for talking.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

每年四月，大家都需要报[___]。

Clue: shuì

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the right-hand phonetic component with words like 说 (shuō) or 脱 (tuō), and missing the grain radical (禾) on the left.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 税 mean and how is it pronounced with tones?

Production: How do you write the Chinese character for 'tax' (shuì), and what are its left and right components?

税shuìtax

Speed:

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