HSK 6 · Verbs

耍 shuǎ “to play with” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 耍 means

  1. to play with
  2. to play (tricks)
  3. to show off
  4. to wield
  5. to act (cool etc)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to display (a skill, one’s temper etc)

How to say 耍

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale耍shuǎ3rd tone, dipping

耍 in a sentence

  1. 你没打算耍我，对吧？

    Nǐ méi dǎsuàn shuǎ wǒ, duì ba?

    You’re not trying to trick me, are you?

    Sentence #5581799 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们被耍了。

    Wǒmen bèi shuǎ le.

    We’ve been tricked.

    Sentence #5611554 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我小时候常常独自玩耍。

    Wǒ xiǎoshíhou chángcháng dúzì wánshuǎ.

    I often played by myself when I was little.

    Sentence #332850 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 耍 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 耍 (shuǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
耍shuǎto play with
  • 而and · ér
  • 女woman · nǚ

How to write 耍

耍 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 耍

More words: Common Verbs

收藏shōucáng · to collect守护shǒuhù · to guard收缩shōusuō · to shrink授予shòuyǔ · to award率领shuàilǐng · to lead束缚shùfù · to restrict树立shùlì · to establish耸sǒng · to shrug

FAQs

耍 (shuǎ) means “to play with” or “to play (tricks)”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shuǎ: shuǎ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 耍 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 耍 from the suggestions. Typing shua into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
耍 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.