数 (shǔ): to count

Meanings

1 to count
2 to count as; to regard as
3 to enumerate; to list

Characters

数

shǔ

to count

Examples

数一数有多少个。

Shǔ yī shǔ yǒu duōshǎo ge.

Count how many there are.

我们班里，数他最聪明。

Wǒmen bān lǐ, shǔ tā zuì cōngmíng.

Among our classmates, he counts as the smartest.

妈妈又数落了我一顿。

Māma yòu shǔluo le wǒ yī dùn.

Mum scolded me again, listing every fault.

Tips

usage

Three core senses, all third-tone. (1) Plain 'count one by one': 数一数, 倒数. (2) 'Count as / rank as the most' — 数他最高 ('he's the tallest of the lot'). (3) 'Enumerate (faults)' — 数落. The reading flips back to 数 (fourth tone) the moment the word becomes a noun.

memory

Mnemonic for the tone split: third-tone 数 is the ACTION (fingers dipping as you tally — the tone dips too); fourth-tone 数 is the RESULT (the final number lands hard). Idioms like 屈指可数 ('few enough to count on one hand') and 如数家珍 ('reel off like family treasures') keep the third tone because they're still about the act of counting.

Components

radical

攵 pū

tap; strike (radical form)

Strike radical on the right (the contracted form of 攴) — the indexing radical. Reflects the original act of tallying or beating out a count, perhaps with a stick on a tally board. Productive in action verbs of authority and process: 教 (teach), 收 (gather), 改 (change), 政 (govern).

phonetic

娄 lóu

drag; pull (here phonetic)

Left 娄 supplies the sound — lóu → shù shows heavy Old Chinese drift, but the whole phonetic series (楼 building, 搂 embrace, 缕 thread) shares the same root. Simplified from traditional 數 with the same 婁/娄 phonetic, just streamlined.