徐

Tap the pinyin to hear it

slowly; gently

Make a writing worksheet

HSK 3.0: Level 7–9
Strokes: 10
Radical: 彳 +7
Structure: Left–right 左右
Traditional: 徐
Common rank: #1,811
Unicode: U+5F90

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 徐 is formed

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

彳 meaning “step” + 余 sound ( yú )

Components 彳余

How to remember it

slowly · Heisig RSH #2650

queue + scale

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 徐

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

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
徐水区	Xú shuǐ Qū	Xushui, a district of Baoding City 保定市[Bao3 ding4 Shi4], Hebei
徐州市	Xú zhōu Shì	Xuzhou, prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province 江蘇省\|江苏省[Jiang1 su1 Sheng3]
清徐县	Qīng xú Xiàn	Qingxu, a county in Taiyuan City 太原市[Tai4 yuan2 Shi4], Shanxi
不疾不徐	bù jí bù xú	neither too fast nor too slow (idiom)
徐闻县	Xú wén Xiàn	Xuwen, a county in Zhanjiang City 湛江市[Zhan4 jiang1 Shi4], Guangdong
半老徐娘	bàn lǎo Xú niáng	middle-aged but still attractive woman; lady of a certain age
徐娘半老	Xú niáng bàn lǎo	middle-aged but still attractive woman; lady of a certain age
徐水	Xú shuǐ	see 徐水區\|徐水区[Xu2 shui3 Qu1]
徐汇区	Xú huì qū	Xuhui district, central Shanghai
徐家汇	Xú jiā huì	Xujiahui, an area in 徐匯區\|徐汇区[Xu2 hui4 qu1], Xuhui district, central Shanghai
徐世昌	Xú Shì chāng	Xu Shichang (1855-1939), politician associated with the Northern Warlords, president of Ch…
徐行	xú xíng	to walk slowly; to stroll
徐克	Xú Kè	Tsui Hark (1951-), Chinese movie director and producer
徐州	Xú zhōu	see 徐州市[Xu2 zhou1 Shi4]
徐星	Xú Xīng	Xu Xing (1969-), Chinese palaeontologist; Xu Xing (1956-), Chinese short story writer
林则徐	Lín Zé xú	Lin Zexu or Lin Tse-hsu "Commissioner Lin" (1785-1850), Qing official whose anti-opium act…
清徐	Qīng xú	see 清徐縣\|清徐县[Qing1 xu2 Xian4]
徐霞客游记	Xú Xiá kè Yóu jì	Xu Xiake's Travel Diaries, a book of travel records by 徐霞客[Xu2 Xia2 ke4] on geology, geogr…
徐志摩	Xú Zhì mó	Xu Zhimo (1897-1931), writer and poet
徐步	xú bù	to stroll; to walk slowly

Sound family

Characters sharing the sound component 余 — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
余 sound part	yú	surplus, remainder; surname
途	tú	way, road, path, journey, course
斜	xié	slanting, sloping, inclined
涂	tú	to smear, to scribble, to daub; surname
叙	xù	to express, to state; to relate, to narrate
荼	tú	a bitter vegetable
嵞	tú	a mountain in Zhejiang
狳	yú	armadillo
蜍	chú	toad (2)
酴	tú	yeast; wine; to leaven, to ferment