聳 (sǒng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

聳

sǒng[song3]Tone 3

to excite, to shrug, towering

HSK 7

View Simplified FormSwitch to Simplified

耸

Guru Deep Dive

English · to excite, to shrug, towering

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (耳) must be written wider and perched stably over the bottom component (从), ensuring vertical symmetry.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 聳 by retaining the core structural elements while streamlining stroke execution in the lower section.

1. Meaning

to shrug, to excite, to tower high

to raise uphigh and toweringto alarm or stir up

Verb / AdjectiveFormal / Literary#body movement#height#emotion

Sample Usage

耸肩
sǒng jiān
to shrug one's shoulders
高耸入云
gāo sǒng rù yún
towering into the clouds

2. Sound

/[sʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹]/Tone: 214

聳

sǒngsong3

ˇ(214)

=sǒng

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

song

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "o" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Dental Fricative

Sounds like: s sound as in English 'sun'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Clear, steady sibilant hiss.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tip of the tongue lightly near the upper gum ridge, letting air pass through a narrow slit.

Final Rhyme

ong

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ong rhymes with rung

Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'h-' (h) with final '-ong' (oong).

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 low like a questioning 'What?' in English when someone asks you to repeat yourself.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone, sǒng changes to a 2nd tone (35) naturally in speech.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing it with sōng (1st tone, pine tree) due to missing the dipping inflection of the 3rd tone.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: start medium-high, drop down low into your chest, and rise slightly back up.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (耳) must be written wider and perched stably over the bottom component (从), ensuring vertical symmetry.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 聳 by retaining the core structural elements while streamlining stroke execution in the lower section.

4. Components

Radical 耳 · Ear Radical (Ear)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 从 (Indicates two people following one another, contributing to the idea of standing tall or gathering.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 从 (original sound: song)

An ear (耳) perched above two people following (从) who are startled and raising their shoulders in surprise.

耳 Ear / Listening
从 Following / Crowd

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

7· Phonetic Root: 從

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined an ear (耳) to denote hearing or alertness, paired with a phonetic indicator denoting elevation or standing upright.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from alertness and raising ears/shoulders in surprise to general meanings of towering heights and excitement.

Often used in classical literature to describe mountains piercing the sky.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ショウ / Kun: そび.える

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You prick up your EARs (耳) because two people (从) are whispering about a towering skyscraper that makes everyone SHRUG (sǒng) in awe.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

從

Phonetic Core (声旁)

慫

+ 心 (heart)

樅

+ 木 (tree)

瘲

+ 疒 (sickness)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

怂(sǒng)

怂 has Heart (心) at the bottom (cowardly heart), whereas 耸 has People/Following (从) at the bottom.

松(sōng)

松 features the tree radical (木) meaning pine tree, not an ear.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

這座高樓直入雲霄，非常[___]人註目。

Clue: sǒng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing it with 怂 (sǒng - cowardly) because they share the same pinyin and sound, but have completely different radicals at the bottom.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 耸, what are its primary physical and vertical meanings?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to shrug' (sǒng jiān) using the Ear radical?

聳sǒngto excite, to shrug, towering

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0