疏
Tap the pinyin to hear it
to dredge; to clear away obstruction; thin; sparse; scanty; distant (relation); not close; to neglect; negligent; to present a memorial to the Emperor; commentary; annotation
- HSK 3.0
- Level 7–9
- Old HSK
- Level 6
- Strokes
- 12
- Radical
- 疋 +7
- Structure
- Left–right 左右
- Traditional
- 疏
- Common rank
- #1,199
- Unicode
- U+758F
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 疏 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
Walking 疋 through uncultivated land 㐬
Components 疋 㐬
How to remember it
sparse · Heisig RSH #1921
zoo + baby Moses
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 疏
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 疏不间亲 | (idiom) outsiders should not come between close relatives | |
| 骨质疏松症 | osteoporosis | |
| 疏财重义 | distributing money, supporting virtue (idiom); fig. to give generously in a public cause | |
| 疏通费 | facilitation payment; bribe | |
| 骨质疏松 | osteoporosis | |
| 疏勒县 | Shule, a county in Kashgar City 喀什市[Ka1 shi2 Shi4], Xinjiang | |
| 疏勒国 | Shule, oasis state in central Asia (near modern Kashgar) at different historical periods | |
| 疏水 | (chemistry) hydrophobic | |
| 生疏 | unfamiliar; strange; out of practice; not accustomed | |
| 上疏 | (of a court official) to present a memorial to the emperor (old) | |
| 暗香疏影 | (poetic depiction of plum blossom) | |
| 疏开 | to disperse | |
| 疏理 | to clarify (disparate material into a coherent narrative); to marshal an argument | |
| 疏通 | to unblock; to dredge; to clear the way; to get things flowing; to facilitate; to mediate;… | |
| 空疏 | shallow; empty | |
| 疏而不漏 | loose, but allows no escape (idiom, from Laozi 老子[Lao3 zi3]); the way of Heaven is fair, b… | |
| 疏解 | to mediate; to mitigate; to ease; to relieve | |
| 疏放 | eccentric; self-indulgent; free and unconventional (written style); unbuttoned | |
| 疏失 | to make a (careless) mistake; oversight | |
| 疏肝理气 | to course the liver and rectify 氣|气[qi4] (TCM) |
Sound family
These characters use 疏 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 疏 sound part | to neglect; to dredge, to clear away; lax, careless | |
| 蔬 | vegetables, greens |