孰

shú
pronoun #16,054

Meanings

  1. 1 who; which; what

Examples

HSK 5
Shì kě rěn, shú bùkě rěn?
If this can be tolerated, what cannot?
HSK 7-9
孰是孰非,自有公论。
Shú shì shú fēi, zìyǒu gōnglùn.
Who is right and who is wrong - the public will judge.

Tips

register
孰 is classical Chinese and only appears in set phrases in modern usage. Key phrases: 孰是孰非 (who's right, who's wrong), 孰能无过 (who can be without fault), 是可忍孰不可忍 (if this is tolerable, what isn't).

Components

phonetic
享 xiǎng
enjoy; offer
享 carries the original sound (later drifted to shú) and historically depicted a sacrificial hall offering food. In 孰 it preserves that ritual flavor - what is being cooked or offered, hence the early sense ripe/cooked before the borrowed who reading. Indexed under Kangxi #39 子 by tradition; no visible 子-element survives.
semantic
丸 wán
ball; pellet
丸 contributes the curved shape of a kneeling figure tending the offering; some readings treat it as a rounded morsel. Together with 享 it pictures someone preparing cooked food, the original meaning before 孰 was borrowed for the interrogative who.

Filed under radical 子 (zǐ, #39) by convention. 子 is not a separate component in 孰, so no strokes are highlighted.

Stroke Order

孰 shú