Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced si
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced si, including 斯 sī, 四 sì, 司 sī, 思 sī, 死 sǐ. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
si is a whole syllable. Keep the tongue flat for a clean s, then the thin buzzing i — it is not “see”.
Initial s
Keep the tongue flat and the sound clean.
Final i
After zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s, this i is not the clear “ee” in see.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (斯 sī, 四 sì, 司 sī, 思 sī, 死 sǐ) and lock in their tones. 13 common characters share the sound si, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
si 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: 斯, 司, 思… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 食 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 死 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 四, 似, 寺… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing si inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
13 common characters in this group.