ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

素 sù plain

plain; vegetarian; element

How to remember 素: 龶 plant + 糸 thread = plain. The bride wants no lace, just a small plant stitched in white thread on a dress that is simple and plain.

  • HSK 5
  • 10 strokes
  • Radical 糸

Component breakdown

素 = 龶 plant + 糸 thread

  • 龶 plant
  • 糸 thread
The Gushi story

The bride wants no lace, just a small plant stitched in white thread on a dress that is simple and plain.

How it is used

  • Bound morpheme with a wide range: "plain, undecorated", "vegetarian", and "element/factor" in compounds.
  • 吃素 (chī sù) "to eat vegetarian" is a common verb-object phrase; 素质 (sùzhì) "(inner) quality, character" is everywhere in education and self-improvement talk (提高素质 "raise one's overall quality").
  • 因素 (yīnsù) "factor" and 元素 (yuánsù) "element" are the standard abstract/scientific terms.
  • As a suffix it marks biological/chemical substances borrowed or coined in modern science: 维生素 (wéishēngsù) "vitamin", 激素 (jīsù) "hormone", 抗生素 (kàngshēngsù) "antibiotic".

Words with 素