HSK 4 · Verbs

死 sǐ “to die” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 死 means

  1. to die
  2. impassable
  3. uncrossable
  4. inflexible
  5. rigid
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • extremely

How to say 死

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale死sǐ3rd tone, dipping

死 in a sentence

  1. After a feeling, 死 means “extremely” or “to death”, as in 饿死了 “starving”

    我饿死了！

    Wǒ è sǐ le!

    I’m starving!

    Sentence #388516 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我累死了。

    Wǒ lèi sǐ le.

    I’m exhausted.

    Sentence #333923 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 笑死我了！

    Xiào sǐ wǒ le!

    That’s so funny!

    Sentence #1815630 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 死 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 死 (sǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
死sǐto die
  • 歹death · dǎi
  • 匕spoon · bǐ

How to write 死

死 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 死

Words with 死

死亡sǐwáng · death

More words: Common Verbs

收shōu · to receive收拾shōushi · to put in order受到shòudào · to receive (praise输shū · to lose (a game or bet)抬tái · to lift躺tǎng · to recline趟tàng · measure word for trips: a trip弹钢琴tángāngqín · to play the piano

FAQs

死 (sǐ) means “to die” or “impassable”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it sǐ: sǐ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 死 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type si with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 死 from the suggestions. Typing si into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
死 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.