HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Everyday Verbs

刷 shuā “to brush” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 刷 means

  1. to brush
  2. to swipe (a card)
  3. to paint
  4. to daub
  5. to scrub
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • (fig.) to remove
  • to eliminate (from a contest)
  • to fire (from a job)
  • (onom.) swish
  • rustle

How to say 刷

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale刷shuā1st tone, high and level

刷 in a sentence

  1. 别忘了刷牙。

    Bié wàng le shuāyá.

    Don’t forget to brush your teeth.

    Sentence #4265177 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我可以刷卡吗？

    Wǒ kěyǐ shuākǎ ma?

    Can I pay by card?

    Sentence #399058 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我们准备刷墙。

    Wǒmen zhǔnbèi shuā qiáng.

    We’re going to paint the wall.

    Sentence #5551182 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 刷 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 刷 (shuā) with each of its parts in a different colour
刷shuāa brush
  • 尸corpse · shī
  • 巾napkin · jīn
  • 刂knife form of 刀 · dāo

Memory aidPicture a cloth 巾 and a blade 刂 used to scrape and scrub something clean: to brush.

How to write 刷

刷 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 刷

Words with 刷

刷牙shuāyá · brush one’s teeth牙刷yáshuā · toothbrush印刷yìnshuā · to print

More words: Everyday Verbs

养yǎng · to raise (animals)爬pá · to climb练liàn · to practise不见bújiàn · to be missing分开fēnkāi · to separate遇见yùjiàn · to meet (by chance)刮guā · to blow (of wind)扫sǎo · to sweep

FAQs

刷 (shuā) means “to brush” or “to swipe (a card)”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it shuā: shuā with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 刷 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shua with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 刷 from the suggestions. Typing shua into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
刷 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 word list. It is not on the older 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.