HSK 6 · Ideas

失误 shīwù “mistake” in Chinese

Traditional 失誤

What 失误 means

  1. mistake
  2. error
  3. to slip up
  4. lapse
  5. to make a mistake
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • fault
  • service fault (in volleyball, tennis etc)

How to say 失误

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale失shī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale误wù4th tone, falling

失误 in a sentence

  1. 汤姆犯了个大失误。

    Tāngmǔ fàn le ge dà shīwù.

    Tom has made a big mistake.

    Sentence #7841362 from Tatoeba

How 失误 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 失 (shī) with each of its parts in a different colour
失shīto lose
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 夫man · fū
The character 误 (wù) with each of its parts in a different colour
误wùmistake
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 吴one of several warring states · WúSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 吴 (Wú) hints at the sound. Compare it with wù.

How to write 失误

失 5 strokes · 误 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 失误

Words with 失

失败shībài · to fail失望shīwàng · disappointed失眠shīmián · to suffer from insomnia失去shīqù · to lose消失xiāoshī · to disappear失业shīyè · unemployment损失sǔnshī · loss丧失sàngshī · to lose遗失yíshī · to lose (something)失踪shīzōng · to go missing

Words with 误

误会wùhuì · to misunderstand错误cuòwù · mistaken耽误dānwu · to delay误解wùjiě · to misunderstand误差wùchā · error

More words: Ideas & Concepts

实力shílì · strength使命shǐmìng · mission实事求是shíshìqiúshì · to be practical and realistic事态shìtài · situation事项shìxiàng · matter视野shìyě · field of vision实质shízhì · substance手法shǒufǎ · technique

FAQs

失误 (shīwù) means “mistake” or “error”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shīwù: shī with a 1st tone, then wù with a 4th 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, 失误 is written 失誤. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shiwu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 失误 from the suggestions. Typing shiwu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
失误 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.