Meaning
four; 4
Chinese: 数字四。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “si” becomes a different word in each tone. 四 is the 4th 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
- 四季sì jìfour seasons, namely: spring 春, summer 夏, autumn 秋 and winter 冬
- 四处sì chùall over the place; everywhere and all directions
- 四周sì zhōuall around
- 四肢sì zhīthe four limbs of the body
- 丢三落四diū sān là sìforgetful; empty-headed
Example Sentence
一年有四个季节。Yì nián yǒu sì ge jì jié.There are four seasons in a year.
一Yìone年niányear有yǒuto have四sìfour个ge(measure word)季节jì jiétime。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The oldest ‘four’ was simply four horizontal lines (亖). The modern shape was borrowed for its sound and replaced the lines, because four stacked strokes were hard to read.
A way to remember it
A box with two little legs inside — just memorise it as ‘four’.
Easy to confuse with
- 西‘West’: a similar box, but open at the top with a different inner shape.