誰 (shéi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

誰

shéi[shei2]Tone 2

who

HSK 1

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谁

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English · who

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (yán) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the remaining two-thirds for the right component (zhǔ), keeping both sides balanced in height.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 誰 uses the same simplified speech radical on the left (讠) and the character zhǔ (隹) on the right.

1. Meaning

who, whom

anyone, whoever (used in rhetorical questions or generalized statements)

PronounNeutral / Colloquial#pronoun#interrogative#question words

Sample Usage

他是谁？
Tā shì shéi?
Who is he?
你找谁？
Nǐ zhǎo shéi?
Who are you looking for?

2. Sound

/[ʂeɪ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

誰

shéishei2

´(35)

=shéi

Initial Consonant

Type: Retroflex Fricative

Sounds like: retroflex sh sound

UnaspiratedRetroflex

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate without touching it

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: ei rhymes with 'way' without the w

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

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 rises sharply like an English question pitch contour.

Sandhi: Follows standard third tone sandhi rules when preceding another third tone.

👂

Listening trap: Often pronounced and written in modern casual speech as 'shuí' (shuí), which is an accepted variant pronunciation.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 2 rises from mid to high like an inquiring 'What?' in English.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (yán) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the remaining two-thirds for the right component (zhǔ), keeping both sides balanced in height.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 誰 uses the same simplified speech radical on the left (讠) and the character zhǔ (隹) on the right.

4. Components

Radical 讠 · Speech Radical (Words, speech, language)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 讠 (Indicates that the word relates to verbal communication or asking a question.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 隹 (original sound: zhuī)

Combine the speech radical (讠) on the left with the short-tailed bird (隹) on the right. When you want to ask 'who' said something, you use your speech to inquire about someone.

讠 Speech radical (semantic clue for asking/words)
隹 Short-tailed bird (phonetic clue)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

27· Phonetic Root: 隹 (zhuī)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Formed by combining the speech signifier (讠) with the phonetic component 隹 (zhuī, originally representing a short-tailed bird). Over time, it was borrowed to represent the interrogative pronoun 'who'.

Semantic Evolution: Originally associated with sound/speech references, it evolved into the universal interrogative pronoun for inquiring about persons.

The alternative pronunciation 'shuí' comes from an older literary reading of the phonetic component 隹.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use your SPEECH (讠) to ask a BIRD (隹) sitting on the fence: 'WHO are you?'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

推

tuīto pushReplace the speech radical with hand radical (扌) to mean pushing with your hands.

准

zhǔnaccurate / standardReplace speech radical with water radical (冫) for standard or accurate.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

准(zhǔn)

准 has a ice/water radical (冫) on the left instead of the speech radical (讠).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

請問，你是[___]？

Clue: shéi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the pronunciation 'shéi' with its alternative literary pronunciation 'shuí'. Both are widely accepted, but 'shéi' is more common in modern Mandarin conversation.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What is the meaning and Pinyin of 谁?

Production: How do you write the interrogative pronoun for 'who' in Mandarin?

誰shéiwho

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