Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced se
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced se, including 色 sè / shǎi, 塞 sāi / sài / sè, 瑟 sè. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
se keeps the tongue flat behind the teeth for s (not curled), then glides into e; say it in one beat and ride the tone through.
Initial s
Keep the tongue flat and the sound clean.
Final e
Settle the final e into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (色 sè / shǎi, 塞 sāi / sài / sè, 瑟 sè) and lock in their tones. 3 common characters share the sound se, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
se turns up here with 2 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 塞 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 色, 瑟 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing se inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
3 common characters in this group.