What does 识 mean in Chinese?

识 is a Chinese character with the radical 讠.

How do you write 识?

识 is written with 7 strokes, starting from the 讠 (speech) 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 识?

The radical of 识 is 讠 (speech, Kangxi radical #149). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 话, 说, 认, 读.

How many strokes does 识 have?

The Chinese character 识 has 7 strokes.

What HSK level is 识?

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

识: Chinese Character Details

识

HSK 1 character 7 strokes Radical: 讠 (speech)

Quick Answer

识 is a Chinese character with 7 strokes, radical 讠 (speech), HSK 1 on the new exam.

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

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

识 (traditional 識) is not attested in oracle bone script and is a phono-semantic compound. It combines 言 (speech) as the semantic element with 戠 (a now-obscure graph combining 音 sound and 戈 dagger-axe, possibly denoting a marked or stamped sound) as the phonetic. The original sense was 'to mark' or 'to distinguish by a sign', with knowledge-related meanings developing later.

Form evolution

Seal script shows the full 識 with 言 on the left and the complex 戠 on the right. Clerical script regularised the strokes but kept the structure intact. The 1956 simplification drastically reduced the right side, replacing 戠 with 只 as both a simpler phonetic and a visual shortcut, and reducing 言 to 讠, producing seven-stroke 识 from nineteen-stroke 識.

How the meaning evolved

The earliest classical use was zhì, meaning 'to mark' or 'a sign' (preserved in 标识 biāozhì, a marker or label). The reading shí 'to know, to recognise' developed as an extension: to mark mentally is to know. Modern Mandarin keeps both readings, though zhì is rare; the common compounds 认识, 知识 (knowledge), and 识字 (to be literate) all use shí.

Cultural note

识字率 (literacy rate) preserves the very old sense of 识 as recognising written marks, a direct link to the character's Warring States origins as a verb for identifying signs. Learners often meet 识 first in 认识 and assume it is a bound morpheme, but it is productive on its own in written and formal registers, as in 共识 (consensus) and 见识 (insight, experience).

Mnemonic

Words with a single focus — to know, knowledge

Decomposition

识=讠radical+只component

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Stroke count	7 strokes
Radical	讠 (#149: speech)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1
Frequency	#405 most common

Example sentences

我认识他。
Wǒ rènshi tā.
I know him.
From 认识 (HSK 1)
我学习知识。
Wǒ xuéxí zhīshi.
I study knowledge.
From 知识 (HSK 4)
学生应该掌握基本的生活常识。
Xuésheng yīnggāi zhǎngwò jīběn de shēnghuó chángshí.
Students should master basic life knowledge.
From 常识 (HSK 5)

Words containing 识

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
认识	rènshi	to be familiar with	HSK 1
知识	zhīshi	knowledge	HSK 4
常识	chángshí	common sense	HSK 5
不识抬举	bùshítáijǔ	fail to appreciate sb's kindness
共识	gòngshí	consensus	HSK 7-9