丝sī

丝

Hover to feel · click to explore

Simplified · Today

简体

Simplified Chinese

Simplified form (簡體). 丝 (sī, "silk") condenses the traditional 絲 into two subtle threads, retaining the ancient pictograph of intertwined silk fibers that once stretched across Bronze Age looms. This diminutive radical threads through characters like 绸 (silk fabric), 纱 (gauze) and 绸 (raw silk), binding them all to the same gossamer origin.

← → navigate · swipe on mobile

Shuowen

Silk. The character depicts two strands of fine thread twisted together, formed by doubling the radical 幺 (which represents something tiny or thread-like); in oracle bone script it pictured raw silk fibers, and the duplication emphasizes the delicate, twisted quality of the thread from which silk is made.

Pinyin

sī· HSK 2

丝sī

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin