HSK 5 · Function Words

似乎 sìhū “it seems” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 似乎 means

  1. it seems
  2. seemingly
  3. as if

How to say 似乎

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale似sì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale乎hū1st tone, high and level

似乎 in a sentence

  1. 这个问题似乎没有答案。

    Zhè ge wèntí sìhū méiyǒu dá'àn.

    This question seems to have no answer.

    Sentence #2048829 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 每个人似乎都很紧张。

    Měi ge rén sìhū dōu hěn jǐnzhāng.

    Everyone seems tense.

    Sentence #9961388 from Tatoeba

  3. 他似乎对自己的状况不满意。

    Tā sìhū duì zìjǐ de zhuàngkuàng bù mǎnyì.

    He doesn’t seem happy with his situation.

    Sentence #431610 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 似乎 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 似 (sì) with each of its parts in a different colour
似sìto seem
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 以according to · yǐ
The character 乎 (hū) drawn as one shape
乎hūin

乎 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 似乎

似 6 strokes · 乎 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 似乎

Words with 似

相似xiāngsì · similar似的shìde · as if类似lèisì · similar

Words with 乎

几乎jīhū · almost在乎zàihu · to care about

More words: Function Words & Grammar

如何rúhé · how始终shǐzhōng · from beginning to end似的shìde · as if首shǒu · measure word for songs and poems事先shìxiān · in advance随时suíshí · at any time随手suíshǒu · as you go所suǒ · (grammar particle introducing a passive or relative clause)

FAQs

似乎 (sìhū) means “it seems” or “seemingly”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it sìhū: sì with a 4th tone, then hū with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 似乎 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type sihu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 似乎 from the suggestions. Typing sihu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
似乎 is an HSK 5 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.