Meaning
to lose; to miss; to fail
Chinese: 失去、错过或失败。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “shi” becomes a different word in each tone. 失 is the 1st 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
- 失去shī qùto lose
- 消失xiāo shīto disappear; to fade away
- 失败shī bàito be defeated; to lose; to fail (e.g. experiments); failure
- 失望shī wàngdisappointed; to lose hope; to despair
- 失业shī yèunemployment; to lose one's job
Example Sentence
我把钥匙丢失了。Wǒ bǎ yào shi diū shī le.I lost my keys.
我WǒI把bǎ(marks the object)钥匙yào shikey丢失diū shīto lose了le(completed action)。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A graph of something slipping from a hand: ‘to lose, miss; to let slip; to fail; a mistake, error, slip; to deviate from’ (失去, 失败, 失误).
A way to remember it
Slipping from the hand — to lose; a mistake (失误).
Easy to confuse with
- 夫‘Husband’: a similar shape, but with two flat top strokes, not the slip-stroke of 失.