What does 试 mean in Chinese?

试 (shì) means "try" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 2.

How do you write 试?

试 is written with 8 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 试?

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

How many strokes does 试 have?

The Chinese character 试 has 8 strokes.

What HSK level is 试?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 试 is a character to recognise at HSK 2.

试 (shì): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

试

shì

try

HSK 2 character 8 strokes Radical: 讠 (speech)

Quick Answer

试 (shì) means "try" with 8 strokes, radical 讠 (speech), HSK 2 on the new exam.

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

Pronunciation

shì

Meaning

Primary: try

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

试 is a phono-semantic compound not found in oracle bone script. The left component 言 (speech) provides the semantic category, originally pointing to verbal testing or questioning, while 式 on the right supplies the phonetic reading shì and the notion of a standard or formal procedure. Together the structure suggests a formal verbal assay or examination.

Form evolution

Seal script shows 言 as a mouth with vertical strokes indicating spoken sound, paired with 式 (composed of 弋 over 工) on the right. Clerical script flattened 言 into its familiar stacked form with a horizontal top and mouth below. The simplified 试 reduces 言 to the three-stroke 讠, following the standard simplification applied to all speech-radical characters.

How the meaning evolved

The original sense of formal testing by questioning extended to trying, attempting, or experimenting in general. Classical compounds like 试问 (may I ask) preserve the verbal testing sense, while 考试 (exam), 试验 (experiment), and 试试 (to give it a try) show the broader modern range. The meaning has gradually shifted from assessment toward any tentative attempt.

Cultural note

考试 is culturally loaded in China because of the imperial examination system (科举) that ran from the Sui dynasty until 1905 and shaped social mobility for over a thousand years. The modern 高考 (college entrance exam) inherits much of that cultural weight, and the reduplicated colloquial form 试试 softens a request into something like 'just give it a shot'.

Mnemonic

Words in a formal style — to test, to try

Decomposition

试=讠radical+式component

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

Basic info

Pinyin	shì
Meanings	try
Stroke count	8 strokes
Radical	讠 (#149: speech)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 2
Frequency	#404 most common

Example sentences

明天考试。
Míngtiān kǎoshì.
Exam tomorrow.
From 考试 (HSK 2)
让我试试看。
Ràng wǒ shìshi kàn.
Let me try.
From 试 (HSK 3)
老师正在批改试卷。
Lǎoshī zhèngzài pīgǎi shìjuàn.
The teacher is grading test papers.
From 试卷 (HSK 5)

Words containing 试

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
考试	kǎoshì	exam	HSK 2
试	shì	try	HSK 3
试卷	shìjuàn	test paper	HSK 5
笔试	bǐshì	written examination	HSK 4
测试	cèshì	to test, test	HSK 5
尝试	chángshì	to try, to attempt	HSK 5