素
Spell out: + =
raw silk; white; plain, unadorned; vegetarian (food); essence; nature; element; constituent; usually; always; ever
10 strokes
Dict coverage rank #263 U+7D20
How 素 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
A silken thread 糸 hanging off a tree 龶
components: 龶 糸
How to remember it
vegetarian diet · Heisig RSH #1207
grow up + floss
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Characters built with 素 as their sound component
These characters all use 素 (sù) as their phonetic component — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 素 sound component | sù | plain; white; vegetarian; formerly; normally |
| 嗉 | sù | a bird's crop; wine pot |
Words containing 素
| 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 |