What does 说 mean in Chinese?

说 (shuō) means "to speak, to say" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 说?

说 is written with 9 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 说?

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

How many strokes does 说 have?

The Chinese character 说 has 9 strokes.

What HSK level is 说?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 说 is a character to recognise at HSK 1 and to write by hand at HSK 2 (the handwriting list HSK 1 and 2 share).

说 (shuō): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

说

shuō

to speak, to say

HSK 1 character 9 strokes Radical: 讠 (speech)

Quick Answer

说 (shuō) means "to speak, to say" with 9 strokes, radical 讠 (speech), HSK 1 on the new exam.

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

Pronunciation

shuō

Meaning

Primary: to speak

Other meanings:

to say

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

说 is a phono-semantic compound not found in oracle bone script. The traditional 說 combines 言 (speech) with 兌 (duì, exchange) as phonetic. 兌 in its own oracle bone form depicts a person with an open mouth and puffs of breath, which may also contribute a faint semantic hint of speaking.

Form evolution

The character first appears in bronze and seal script as 說, with 言 on the left and 兌 on the right. Clerical script regularised both halves into clean straight strokes. Modern simplification replaces 言 with 讠 and writes 兌 as 兑, producing 说. The right component is visibly the same across all stages.

How the meaning evolved

The oldest meaning is to speak or to explain, often in the sense of making something clear to someone. This remains the core modern sense (说话, 说明). The character also carries a secondary reading shuì meaning to persuade, as in 游说 (to lobby), and an archaic reading yuè meaning pleased, as in the opening line of the Analects 学而时习之,不亦说乎.

Cultural note

说 is one of the most frequent verbs in Mandarin and the default for reported speech (他说... he said...). The triple reading shuō, shuì, yuè is a classic exam trap; the yuè reading in 不亦说乎 is now usually written 悦 in modern editions to avoid confusion.

Mnemonic

Words of exchange — to speak

Decomposition

说=讠radical+兑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	shuō
Meanings	to speak, to say
Stroke count	9 strokes
Radical	讠 (#149: speech)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1, write by hand at HSK 1-2
Frequency	#188 most common

Example sentences

他说中文。
Tā shuō Zhōngwén.
He speaks Chinese.
From 说 (HSK 1)
请说话。
Qǐng shuōhuà.
Please speak.
From 说话 (HSK 1)
我读了这本小说。
Wǒ dú le zhè běn xiǎoshuō.
I read this novel.
From 小说 (HSK 4)

Words containing 说

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
说	shuō	to speak, to say	HSK 1
说话	shuōhuà	talk	HSK 1
说明	shuōmíng	Explain	HSK 4
小说	xiǎoshuō	Novel	HSK 4
胡说	húshuō	Nonsense	HSK 7-9
说服	shuōfú	Persuade	HSK 5
传说	chuánshuō	Legend	HSK 5
据说	jùshuō	allegedly; it`s said	HSK 5
说不定	shuōbudìng	maybe	HSK 5