耍 (shuǎ): to play

Meanings

1 to play
2 to play with
3 to mess around
4 to play tricks

Characters

耍

shuǎ

to play; to play with

Examples

别耍我！

Bié shuǎ wǒ!

Don't play me! / Don't mess with me!

他在耍花招。

Tā zài shuǎhuāzhāo.

He's playing tricks.

小孩子喜欢出去耍。

Xiǎoháizi xǐhuan chūqù shuǎ.

Kids like to go out and play.

Tips

usage

耍 often has a negative or playful connotation: 耍花招 (play tricks), 耍赖 (act shamelessly). In southwestern dialects (Sichuan, Chongqing), 耍 is the everyday word for 'to play' or 'to hang out'.

grammar

耍 can take a person as object (耍我 = play me for a fool) or an abstract noun (耍脾气 = throw a tantrum).

Components

radical

而 ér

and; beard (original sense)

Top indexing 而 radical — originally pictured a hanging beard, later borrowed for the conjunction 'and'. In 耍 the historical beard sense returns: a person playfully tugging or stroking their beard, signifying frivolity, leisure, fooling around. Same family of 而-based chars: 需 (need), 耐 (endure).

semantic

女 nǚ

woman

Bottom 女 — the woman radical. The compound ideograph here is folk-etymological and somewhat sexist by modern standards: a man (with beard 而 above) playing around with a woman (女 below), capturing the 'fooling around, dallying' sense of 耍. Modern usage has broadened to neutral 'play, do for fun': 玩耍 (play), 耍酒疯 (drunken antics).