缩

縮
suō
verb HSK 7-9 #6,865

Meanings

  1. 1 to shrink; to contract
  2. 2 to withdraw; to draw back

Examples

HSK 2
Yīfu xǐ hòu suō le.
The clothes shrank after washing.
HSK 6
Tā xià de suō chéng yī tuán.
He was so scared he curled up into a ball.

Tips

usage
Common in 缩小 (to reduce), 缩短 (to shorten), 压缩 (to compress).

Components

radical
纟 sī
silk radical
Left radical 纟 is the simplified silk/thread form of 糸. It marks 缩 as a thread-action: tightening, drawing in, contracting like a pulled drawstring. The silk radical groups 缩 with the textile family - 织 (weave), 纺 (spin), 绑 (tie), 紧 (tight) - all dealing with how threads pull and bind.
phonetic
宿 sù
lodge; stay overnight
Right phonetic 宿 supplies the sound - sù shifted to suō via vowel rounding, a regular variation. Faint semantic flavour bleeds through: 宿 means 'pull in for the night, settle down', which matches the contracting/withdrawing sense of 缩. Same phonetic in 缩 alone, but 宿 itself appears widely in 宿舍 (dormitory), 住宿 (stay).

Stroke Order

缩 suō