Meaning
tongue
Chinese: 舌头。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “she” becomes a different word in each tone. 舌 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 舌头shé toutongue; enemy soldier captured for the purpose of extracting information
- 七嘴八舌qī zuǐ bā shélively discussion with everybody talking at once
- 舌下shé xiàsublingual; hypoglossal
- 舌面shé miànblade of tongue; laminal
- 小舌xiǎo shéuvula
Example Sentence
吃太烫的东西容易烫到舌头。Chī tài tàng de dōng xi róng yì tàng dào shé tou.Eating something too hot can easily burn your tongue.
吃Chīto eat太tàitoo烫tàngto scald的deof东西dōng xithing容易róng yìeasy烫tàngto scald到dàoto reach舌头shé toutongue。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A tongue stretching out of a mouth (口 at the base): the strokes on top are the tongue. It means ‘tongue’.
A way to remember it
Something poking up out of a mouth — the tongue.
Easy to confuse with
- 古‘Ancient’: also 口 at the base, but the top is 十, not a tongue.