素

Tap the pinyin to hear it

raw silk; white; plain, unadorned; vegetarian (food); essence; nature; element; constituent; usually; always; ever

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Ideographic compound (会意字)

A silken thread 糸 hanging off a tree 龶

Components 龶糸

vegetarian diet · Heisig RSH #1207

grow up + floss

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

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

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
生长素	shēng zhǎng sù	auxin (plant growth hormone)
素人	sù rén	untrained, inexperienced person; layman; amateur; ordinary person; non-celebrity
花色素	huā sè sù	anthocyanidin (biochemistry)
红血球生成素	hóng xuè qiú shēng chéng sù	erythropoietin (EPO)
色素体	sè sù tǐ	plastid (organelle in plant cell)
动情素	dòng qíng sù	estrogen
素有	sù yǒu	to have; to have always had
素手	sù shǒu	white hand; empty-handed
素面	sù miàn	face (of a woman) without makeup; solid color (unpatterned)
素面	sù miàn	vegetable noodle dish
素不相能	sù bù xiāng néng	unable to get along (idiom)
动物毒素	dòng wù dú sù	zootoxin
平素	píng sù	usually; habitually; ordinarily; normally
化学元素	huà xué yuán sù	chemical element
素数	sù shù	prime number
黑色素	hēi sè sù	black pigment; melanin
素日	sù rì	usually
素面朝天	sù miàn cháo tiān	lit. to present oneself confidently to the emperor, without makeup (as did the sister of Y…
素食主义	sù shí zhǔ yì	vegetarianism
语素	yǔ sù	morpheme

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

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
素 sound part	sù	plain; white; vegetarian; formerly; normally
嗉	sù	a bird's crop; wine pot