Chinese words starting with “shi”
142 words in our HSK vocabulary start with the syllable shi. They are sorted by how common they are, so the ones you are most likely to meet come first. The 41 most useful of them have their own page — they are listed first below.
Initial sh · final i · hear the four tones and see example characters →
- 1st tone 33
- 2nd tone 42
- 3rd tone 8
- 4th tone 59
Word counts by tone are counted on the first syllable of each word.
Common words with this syllable
- 时候shí houHSK 1
time; length of time; moment; period
- 时间shí jiānHSK 1
time; period
- 世界shì jièHSK 3
world
- 事情shì qingHSK 2
affair; matter; thing; business
- 是否shì fǒuHSK 4
whether (or not); if; is or isn't
- 使用shǐ yòngHSK 2
to use; to employ; to apply; to make use of
- 失去shī qùHSK 3
to lose
- 事件shì jiànHSK 3
event; happening; incident
- 十分shí fēnHSK 2
very; completely; utterly; extremely; absolutely; hundred percent; to divide into ten equal parts
- 事实shì shíHSK 3
fact
- 实现shí xiànHSK 2
to achieve; to implement; to realize; to bring about
- 市场shì chǎngHSK 3
marketplace; market (also in abstract)
- 适合shì héHSK 3
to fit; to suit
- 实际上shí jì shàngHSK 3
in fact; in reality; as a matter of fact; in practice
- 事业shì yèHSK 3
undertaking; project; activity; (charitable, political or revolutionary) cause; publicly funded institution, enterprise or foundation; career; occupation
- 实在shí zàiHSK 2
really; actually; indeed; true; real; honest; dependable; (philosophy) reality
- 时代shí dàiHSK 3
age; era; epoch; period (in one's life)
- 事故shì gùHSK 3
accident
- 事实上shì shí shàngHSK 3
in fact; in reality; actually; as a matter of fact; de facto; ipso facto
- 失败shī bàiHSK 4
to be defeated; to lose; to fail (e.g. experiments); failure; defeat
- 世纪shì jìHSK 3
century
- 时刻shí kèHSK 3
time; juncture; moment; period of time; constantly; always
- 时尚shí shàngHSK 7
fashion; fad; fashionable
- 食物shí wùHSK 2
food
All 142 words
| # | Word | Pinyin | POS | Meaning | Study list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 是 | shì | v | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion) | |
| 2 | 事 | shì | n,g | matter; thing; item; work; affair | |
| 3 | 时 | shí | g,t | o'clock; time; when; hour; season; period | |
| 4 | 使 | shǐ | v | to make; to cause; to enable; to use; to employ; to send; to instruct sb to do sth; envoy; messenger | |
| 5 | 十 | shí | m,t | ten; 10 | |
| 6 | 试 | shì | v,vn | to test; to try; experiment; examination; test | |
| 7 | 市 | shì | n | market; city | |
| 8 | 室 | shì | n | room; work unit; grave; scabbard; family or clan; one of the 28 constellations of Chinese astronomy | |
| 9 | 式 | shì | k,g | type; form; pattern; style | |
| 10 | 时期 | shí qī | n | period; phase | |
| 11 | 失望 | shī wàng | a,an,ad | disappointed; to lose hope; to despair | |
| 12 | 视频 | shì pín | n | video | |
| 13 | 士兵 | shì bīng | n | soldier | |
| 14 | 时光 | shí guāng | n | time; era; period of time | |
| 15 | 尸体 | shī tǐ | n | dead body; corpse; carcass | |
| 16 | 似的 | shì de | u | seems as if; rather like; Taiwan pr. [sì de] | |
| 17 | 试图 | shì tú | v | to attempt; to try | |
| 18 | 实施 | shí shī | v,vn | to implement; to carry out | |
| 19 | 湿 | shī | a,v | moist; wet | |
| 20 | 诗 | shī | n | poem; poetry; verse | |
| 21 | 释放 | shì fàng | v,vn | to release; to set free; to liberate (a prisoner); to discharge | |
| 22 | 市民 | shì mín | n | city resident | |
| 23 | 使得 | shǐ de | v | usable; workable; feasible; doable; to make; to cause | |
| 24 | 失踪 | shī zōng | v,vn | to be missing; to disappear; unaccounted for | |
| 25 | 时机 | shí jī | n | opportunity; opportune moment | |
| 26 | 事物 | shì wù | n | thing; object | |
| 27 | 适当 | shì dàng | a,ad | suitable; appropriate | |
| 28 | 实话 | shí huà | n | truth | |
| 29 | 事务所 | shì wù suǒ | n | office; firm | |
| 30 | 狮子 | shī zi | n | lion | |
| 31 | 事务 | shì wù | n | (political, economic etc) affairs; work; transaction (as in a computer database) | |
| 32 | 失误 | shī wù | vn,v | lapse; mistake; to make a mistake; fault; service fault (in volleyball, tennis etc) | |
| 33 | 事先 | shì xiān | d | in advance; before the event; beforehand; prior | |
| 34 | 失业 | shī yè | v,vn | unemployment; to lose one's job | |
| 35 | 师傅 | shī fu | n | master; qualified worker; respectful form of address for older men | |
| 36 | 时装 | shí zhuāng | n | fashion; fashionable clothes | |
| 37 | 实践 | shí jiàn | v,vn | practice; to put into practice; to live up to (a promise); to carry out (a project) | |
| 38 | 十足 | shí zú | z,b | ample; complete; hundred percent; a pure shade (of some color) | |
| 39 | 势力 | shì li | n | power; influence; a force (military, political etc) | |
| 40 | 使命 | shǐ mìng | n | mission; long-term task to which one devotes oneself; a calling | |
| 41 | 市区 | shì qū | s | urban district; downtown; city center | |
| 42 | 示范 | shì fàn | vn,v | to demonstrate; to show how to do sth; demonstration; a model example | |
| 43 | 识别 | shí bié | vn,v | to distinguish; to discern; to identify; to recognize | |
| 44 | 视觉 | shì jué | n | sight; vision; visual | |
| 45 | 视线 | shì xiàn | n | line of sight | |
| 46 | 视为 | shì wéi | v | to view as; to see as; to consider to be; to deem | |
| 47 | 诗人 | shī rén | n | bard; poet | |
| 48 | 时空 | shí kōng | n | time and place; world of a particular locale and era; (physics) space-time | |
| 49 | 是非 | shì fēi | n | right and wrong; quarrel | |
| 50 | 施工 | shī gōng | v,vn | construction; to carry out construction or large-scale repairs |
Page 1 of 3 · 50 words per page
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