Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

ten; 10

Chinese: 数字十。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “shi” becomes a different word in each tone. 十 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

  • 十分shí fēnvery; completely; utterly; extremely
  • 十字路口shí zì lù kǒucrossroads; intersection
  • 十足shí zúample; complete; hundred percent; a pure shade (of some color)
  • 十一shí yīeleven; 11
  • 十成shí chéngcompletely

Example Sentence

这个班有十个学生。Zhè ge bān yǒu shí ge xué sheng.This class has ten students.

这个Zhè ge(pronoun) thisbānteamyǒuto haveshítenge(measure word)学生xué shengstudent

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

Originally a single vertical line meaning ‘ten’; a dot was later added at the middle that grew into the crossbar, giving the plus-sign shape.

A way to remember it

A plus sign — a full set of ten.

Easy to confuse with

  • qiān‘Thousand’: 十 with a slanted stroke added on top.
  • ‘Earth’: 十 with a line added at the base.