四

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four; 4

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HSK 3.0: Level 1
Old HSK: Level 1
Strokes: 5
Radical: 囗 +2
Structure: Enclosure 包围
Traditional: 四
Common rank: #241
Unicode: U+56DB

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 四 is formed

Ideographic compound (会意字)

A child 儿 in a room with four walls 囗

Components 囗儿

How to remember it

four · Heisig RSH #4

口 mouth + human legs

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 四

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
不三不四	bù sān bù sì	(idiom) dubious; shady; neither one thing nor the other; neither fish nor fowl; nondescrip…
四分之一	sì fēn zhī yī	one-quarter
四会市	Sì huì Shì	Sihui, a county-level city in Zhaoqing City 肇慶市\|肇庆市[Zhao4 qing4 Shi4], Guangdong
四大发明	sì dà fā míng	the Four Great Inventions (papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder, traditionall…
四平市	Sì píng Shì	Siping, prefecture-level city in Jilin Province 吉林省[Ji2 lin2 Sheng3]
四日市	Sì rì shì	Yokkaichi (city in Japan)
四面体	sì miàn tǐ	tetrahedron
四方台区	Sì fāng tái Qū	Sifangtai, a district of Shuangyashan City 雙鴨山市\|双鸭山市[Shuang1 ya1 shan1 Shi4], Heilongjiang
四大	sì dà	the four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind (Buddhism); the four freedoms: speaking ou…
大四	dà sì	fourth year of university
四海为家	sì hǎi wéi jiā	to regard the four corners of the world all as home (idiom); to feel at home anywhere; to …
四国	Sì guó	Shikoku (one of the four main islands of Japan)
四下里	sì xià li	all around
四大天王	sì dà tiān wáng	the four heavenly kings (Sanskrit vajra); the four guardians or warrior attendants of Budd…
四川外国语大学	Sì chuān Wài guó yǔ Dà xué	Sichuan International Studies University (SISU)
四小龙	Sì Xiǎo lóng	Four Asian Tigers; East Asian Tigers; Four Little Dragons (East Asian economic powers: Tai…
四一二	sì yī èr	12th April; refers to Chiang Kai-shek's coup of 12th April 1927 against the communists in …
四一二事变	sì yī èr shì biàn	the coup of 12th Mar 1927, an attempt by Chiang Kai-shek to suppress the communists; calle…
四海	sì hǎi	(fig.) the whole world
四化	sì huà	abbr. for 四個現代化\|四个现代化[si4 ge4 xian4 dai4 hua4], Deng Xiaoping's four modernizations

Sound family

These characters use 四 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
四 sound part	sì	four
泗	sì	mucus; to sniffle; a river in Shandong province