HSK 5 · Objects

锁 suǒ “to lock” in Chinese

Traditional 鎖

What 锁 means

  1. to lock
  2. to lock up

How to say 锁

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale锁suǒ3rd tone, dipping

锁 in a sentence

  1. 我们晚上锁门。

    Wǒmen wǎnshang suǒ mén.

    We lock the door at night.

    Sentence #2318408 from Tatoeba

  2. 她把自己锁在浴室了。

    Tā bǎ zìjǐ suǒ zài yùshì le.

    She’s locked herself in the bathroom.

    Sentence #10182834 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 锁坏了。

    Suǒ huài le.

    The lock’s broken.

    Sentence #616211 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 锁 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 锁 (suǒ) with each of its parts in a different colour
锁suǒto lock; to lock up
  • 钅gold form of 金 · jīnMeaning part
  • ⺌small form of 小 · xiǎoSound part
  • 贝sea shell · bèi

钅 hints at the meaning (gold); ⺌ (xiǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with suǒ.

How to write 锁

锁 12 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

锁 (suǒ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 锁 (suǒ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 锁

Words with 锁

连锁liánsuǒ · chain (store etc.)封锁fēngsuǒ · to blockade

More words: Objects & Materials

手工shǒugōng · handmade书架shūjià · bookshelf梳子shūzi · comb丝绸sīchóu · silk cloth玩具wánjù · plaything文具wénjù · stationery (pens亿yì · 100 million银yín · silver

FAQs

锁 (suǒ) means “to lock” or “to lock up”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it suǒ: suǒ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 锁 is written 鎖. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type suo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 锁 from the suggestions. Typing suo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
锁 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.