恕

shù
verb #3,782

Meanings

  1. 1 to forgive
  2. 2 to pardon
  3. 3 to excuse

Examples

HSK 3
Shù wǒ bùnéng tóngyì.
Pardon me, but I cannot agree.
HSK 6
Shù wǒ zhíyán, nǐ de fāng'àn yǒu wèntí.
Forgive me for being blunt, but your plan has problems.

Tips

register
恕 is literary and formal. It appears most often in set phrases like 恕我直言 (forgive my frankness) or 恕不奉陪 (excuse me for not keeping you company).
memory
恕 is composed of 如 (rú, like) on top and 心 (xīn, heart) on the bottom - to forgive is to have a heart that treats others as you would yourself.

Components

radical
心 xīn
heart
Heart radical at the bottom - the full 4-stroke form (rather than the left-side 忄 variant). 恕 means 'forgive / be lenient', a heart-based virtue, so 心 is fully semantic. Joins the heart family with 想 think, 愿 wish, 怒 anger, 忍 endure.
phonetic
如 rú
as; like
Phonetic - 如 rú to 恕 shù (irregular shift). 如 means 'as / like / according to', a meaning Confucius drew on for 恕: treating others as you would yourself. The Analects defines 恕 as 己所不欲,勿施于人 'don't do to others what you don't want done to yourself' - a literal 'as-heart' ethic.

Stroke Order

恕 shù