Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced shu
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced shu, including 数 shù, 书 shū, 术 shù / zhú, 属 shǔ / zhǔ, 述 shù. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
shu begins with the tongue curled up and back for sh; let it slide straight into u and carry the tone across the whole sound, rather than spelling out English letters.
Initial sh
Curl the tongue back for sh. English speakers often make it too flat.
Final u
Keep the lips rounded.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (数 shù, 书 shū, 术 shù / zhú, 属 shǔ / zhǔ, 述 shù) and lock in their tones. 16 common characters share the sound shu, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
shu turns up here with 4 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: 书, 输, 殊… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 熟 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 属, 署, 鼠 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 数, 术, 述… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing shu inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
16 common characters in this group.