舌 (shé) · tongue

Meanings

1 tongue

Examples

HSK 5

她咬了自己的舌头。

Tā yǎo le zìjǐ de shétou.

She bit her own tongue.

HSK 7-9

他很能说，舌头很灵。

Tā hěn néng shuō, shétou hěn líng.

He's very eloquent; his tongue is nimble.

Tips

usage

Common words include 舌头 (tongue) and 舌尖 (tip of the tongue). 舌尖上的中国 (A Bite of China) is a famous food documentary.

Components

pictograph

舌 shé

tongue

舌 is itself a Kangxi radical and a pictograph. Oracle-bone forms show a long forked tongue extending out of a mouth, sometimes with droplets to suggest tasting. The upper portion preserves the tongue silhouette and the lower 口 the mouth from which it darts. Not decomposable.

Radical

Tongue Kangxi #135

The tongue radical. A compound ideograph of a tongue projecting from a mouth. Indexes characters tied to speech and oral activity: 舔 (to lick), 舒 (stretch out), 辞 (speech; resign). Many characters that look like they belong here are filed elsewhere, so productivity is moderate rather than high.