丝 (sī) · silk; thread; fiber

Measure Word

一根丝 gēn

Meanings

1 silk; thread; fiber
2 a tiny amount; a trace

Characters

丝

sī

silk; thread; a trace

Examples

HSK 5

中国是丝的故乡。

Zhōngguó shì sī de gùxiāng.

China is the homeland of silk.

HSK 6

蜘蛛吐出了一根丝。

Zhīzhū tǔ chū le yì gēn sī.

The spider spun out a thread of silk.

HSK 6

她脸上露出了一丝微笑。

Tā liǎnshàng lùchū le yìsī wēixiào.

A trace of a smile appeared on her face.

Tips

culture

On Chinese internet, 屌丝 became one of the most viral slang terms of the 2010s - a self-deprecating label for ordinary young men with no money or status, roughly 'loser.' Despite its crude origin, millions proudly adopted the label as anti-elitist humor.

history

丝 is the origin of the English word 'silk,' borrowed through Greek and Latin from Chinese. The Silk Road (丝绸之路) was named after China's most famous export.

Components

radical

一 yī

one; horizontal baseline

Bottom horizontal is the 一 radical and is the entry's filing point in xinhua. It is the loom-bar from which the two silk threads above hang together, tying the simplified form to the Kangxi 一 radical even though traditional 絲 was filed under 糸.

ideograph

丝 sī

twin silk threads (upper fused body)

Top four strokes function as a fused thread-pair silhouette hanging above the unifying baseline below; they no longer break down to standalone CJK pieces. Historically the simplified residue of traditional 絲's twin 糸 silk-skeins, collapsed during the 1956 reform into this stylized stand-in.