shū
adverb #73,728

Meanings

  1. 1 (literary) suddenly; in a flash

Examples

Shínián shūhū jiù guòqù le.
Ten years passed in an instant.

Tips

history
Rare on its own in modern Chinese, surviving in literary words like 倏忽 (in an instant) and 倏地 (suddenly). It originally pictured a dog darting off — the dog under phonetic .
register
Literary only; appears in formal or classical writing, not in everyday speech.

Components

radical
quǎn
dog
The dog tucked at the lower right. It supplies the original image — a dog suddenly bolting away — which gave the word its sense of abrupt, flashing speed.
phonetic
yōu
distant; phonetic
Wraps the top and left and carries the sound shū. The same shape sits in and ; here it lends pronunciation, with a faint flavor of swift motion.

Stroke Order

shū