What does 睡 mean in Chinese?

睡 is a Chinese character with the radical 目.

How do you write 睡?

睡 is written with 13 strokes, starting from the 目 (eye) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 睡?

The radical of 睡 is 目 (eye, Kangxi radical #109). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 相, 真, 着, 目.

How many strokes does 睡 have?

The Chinese character 睡 has 13 strokes.

What HSK level is 睡?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 睡 is a character to recognise at HSK 1.

睡: Chinese Character Details

睡

HSK 1 character 13 strokes Radical: 目 (eye)

Quick Answer

睡 is a Chinese character with 13 strokes, radical 目 (eye), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 睡 →Animated stroke-order for 睡 →

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

睡 does not appear in oracle-bone script. It is a phono-semantic compound built from 目 (eye) on the left as the semantic element and 垂 (to droop, hang down) on the right as the phonetic, though 垂 also contributes meaning: eyes that droop. The form is first attested clearly in seal script as an already-formed compound.

Form evolution

In small seal script the left side shows a vertical eye shape (目 turned on its side in earlier forms, upright by the seal period) and the right side shows 垂 with its characteristic drooping branches. Clerical script squared off both components, fixing 目 as a neat rectangle with horizontal strokes and regularising 垂 into the modern stroke pattern. Standard script (楷书) preserves this structure essentially unchanged.

How the meaning evolved

The original sense was specifically to doze off while sitting, with the eyes drooping shut, distinct from 寐 (to sleep in bed) and 寝 (to lie down to sleep). By the Han period 睡 had broadened to cover sleep more generally, and in modern Mandarin 睡 is the default verb for sleeping in any posture. The older distinction survives only in classical texts and fixed expressions.

Cultural note

The classical precision is preserved in the idiom 废寝忘食 (fèiqǐn-wàngshí, 'skip sleep and forget to eat'), which uses 寝 rather than 睡 because the reference is to proper lying-down rest. The compound 睡觉 (shuìjiào) literally combines 'doze' with 'wake up', an old pairing that now simply means 'to sleep'.