素

sù
noun HSK 7-9 #3,364

Meanings

  1. 1 raw silk
  2. 2 plain
  3. 3 vegetarian
  4. 4 element

Examples

HSK 2
Wǒ māma chīsù, bù chī ròu.
My mom is a vegetarian, she doesn't eat meat.
HSK 4
Zhè bù diànyǐng jiārù le bùshǎo Zhōngguó yuánsù.
This movie includes quite a few Chinese elements.
HSK 6
Tā chuān de hěn pǔsù.
She dresses very plainly.

Tips

history
Originally meant unbleached silk - hence 'plain' and 'basic'.

Components

radical
糸 mì
silk; thread (full bottom form)
Bottom silk radical in its full traditional form (Kangxi #120) - a hank of twisted silk threads. The indexing radical of 素. Marks 素 as a silk-related concept: undyed, plain-white raw silk. From 'plain silk' came every modern sense - plain, simple, vegetarian (素食), elemental (元素). Same radical (in 纟 side-form) heads 红, 线, 织.
semantic
龶 zhǔ
top component (raw / unfinished)
Top 4 strokes - historically a contracted 垂 'hanging down' element in the original 素 picture: raw silk threads draped over a frame to dry. The component has no productive standalone meaning today; it is graphic residue of the older 'fresh, undyed silk hanging out' image. Reads visually like the top of 主/青 but is not analyzable further. Carries the 'plain, unfinished, raw' core of 素.

Stroke Order

素 sù