士 — member of the senior ministerial class
member of the senior ministerial class; scholar; bachelor
- Pinyin
- shì · Shì
- Strokes
- 3
- HSK level
- HSK 1
- Handwriting
- recognition only
This character has more than one reading — shì, Shì — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.
How to write 士: 3 strokes
Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. The syllabus asks you to recognise this character rather than write it by hand.
Words with 士 in the HSK syllabus: 13
Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.
- 女士nǚshìlady; madam; Miss; MsHSK 1
- 博士bóshìdoctor; person specialized in a skill or tradeHSK 4
- 护士hùshinurseHSK 4
- 男士nánshìman; gentlemanHSK 4
- 硕士shuòshìmaster's degree; person who has a master's degreeHSK 4
- 人士rénshìperson; figure; public figureHSK 6
- 士兵shìbīngsoldierHSK 6
- 烈士lièshìmartyrHSK 7–9
- 绅士shēnshìgentlemanHSK 7–9
- 士气shìqìmoraleHSK 7–9
- 学士xuéshìbachelor's degreeHSK 7–9
- 院士yuànshìmember of a national academyHSK 7–9
- 战士zhànshìfighter; soldier; warriorHSK 7–9
Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.