HSK 4 · Verbs

使 shǐ “to make” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 使 means

  1. to make
  2. to cause
  3. to use
  4. to enable
  5. to employ
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to send

How to say 使

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale使shǐ3rd tone, dipping

使 in a sentence

  1. 她的故事使我很感动。

    Tā de gùshi shǐ wǒ hěn gǎndòng.

    I was very moved by her story.

    Sentence #6452002 from Tatoeba

  2. 窗帘使房间变漂亮了。

    Chuānglián shǐ fángjiān biàn piàoliang le.

    The curtains have made the room look nicer.

    Sentence #1372490 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这把剪刀不好使。

    Zhè bǎ jiǎndāo bù hǎoshǐ.

    These scissors don’t cut well.

    Sentence #1733453 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 使 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 使 (shǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
使shǐto make
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 吏government official · lì

How to write 使

使 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 使

Words with 使

使用shǐyòng · to use即使jíshǐ · even if大使馆dàshǐguǎn · embassy促使cùshǐ · to induce使劲儿shǐjìnr · to exert all one’s strength使命shǐmìng · mission致使zhìshǐ · to cause

More words: Common Verbs

申请shēnqǐng · to apply (for)生活shēnghuó · to live省shěng · to save剩shèng · to remain使用shǐyòng · to use适合shìhé · to fit适应shìyìng · to adapt收shōu · to receive

FAQs

使 (shǐ) means “to make” or “to cause”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it shǐ: shǐ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 使 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 使 from the suggestions. Typing shi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
使 is an HSK 4 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.