HSK 6 · Adjectives

生疏 shēngshū “unfamiliar” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 生疏 means

  1. unfamiliar
  2. out of practice
  3. rusty
  4. strange
  5. not accustomed

How to say 生疏

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale生shēng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale疏shū1st tone, high and level

生疏 in a sentence

  1. 很久没弹钢琴，手都生疏了。

    Hěn jiǔ méi tán gāngqín, shǒu dōu shēngshū le.

    I haven’t played the piano for ages, so I’m out of practice.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 我刚到这个城市，人地生疏。

    Wǒ gāng dào zhè ge chéngshì, rén dì shēngshū.

    I’ve only just arrived in this city, and I don’t know anyone or anywhere.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 生疏 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 生 (shēng) drawn as one shape
生shēngto grow; to give birth; to produce

生 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA shoot growing up out of the soil 土: to grow, to be born.

The character 疏 (shū) with each of its parts in a different colour
疏shūto dredge
  • 疋roll of cloth · pǐ
  • 㐬pennant

How to write 生疏

生 5 strokes · 疏 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 生疏

Words with 生

医生yīshēng · doctor学生xuésheng · student先生xiānsheng · mr大学生dàxuéshēng · university student小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student中学生zhōngxuéshēng · middle-school student生日shēngrì · birthday生病shēngbìng · to get sick生气shēngqì · angry女生nǚshēng · female student

Words with 疏

疏忽shūhu · to neglect疏远shūyuǎn · to drift apart

More words: Adjectives

擅自shànzì · without permission奢侈shēchǐ · luxurious深奥shēn'ào · profound深沉shēnchén · deep神气shénqì · spirited神奇shénqí · magical神圣shénshèng · sacred慎重shènzhòng · cautious

FAQs

生疏 (shēngshū) means “unfamiliar” or “out of practice”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shēngshū: shēng with a 1st tone, then shū with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 生疏 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shengshu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 生疏 from the suggestions. Typing shengshu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
生疏 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.