Meaning
beard; necessary; must; beard; mustache
Chinese: 必须；胡须。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “xu” becomes a different word in each tone. 须 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
- 必须bì xūto have to; must; compulsory; necessarily
- 胡须hú xūbeard
- 须知xū zhīkey information; instructions; it must be borne in mind
- 无须wú xūneed not; not obliged to; not necessarily
- 须要xū yàomust; have to
Example Sentence
过马路必须看红绿灯。Guò mǎ lù bì xū kàn hóng lǜ dēng.When crossing the road, you must watch the traffic lights.
过马路Guò mǎ lùto cross the street必须bì xūto have to看kànto look after红绿灯hóng lǜ dēngtraffic light。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
彡 (lines/hair) plus 页 (head): hair on the face. In simplified Chinese 须 also covers 鬚 ‘beard, whiskers’; its main use is ‘must, have to, ought to’ (必须, 须知, 胡须). Simplified from 須/鬚.
A way to remember it
‘Must / ought to’ (必须); also ‘beard’ (胡须).