Character: 星 (xīng) star

星 (xīng) means star, the character is visualized as seedling growing under the sun

A seedling growing under the sun

 

Pinyin xīng
Meaning star; heavenly body; satellite; small amount
Radical 日 繁體字 same
Two writing patterns can be found in the character 星 (xīng) star: 日, highlighted in red; and 生, highlighted in yellow 日
生

writing patterns, not components

Chinese character phono-semantic compoundcategory: phono-semantic compound

Chinese character up down structurestructure: up down

9stroke count

HSK 1

Stroke order of the Chinese character 星 (xīng) star. There are 9 strokes, and the character is written from top to bottom

Breakdown

星 (xīng) “star” consists of the radical 日 (rì) “sun” on top and the phonetic component 生 (shēng) “to be born” at the bottom. 日 (rì) refers to the twinkling objects in the night sky—stars.

xīng
星
star		 rì
日
sun		 zuó
昨
yesterday		 jiān
间
space
shēng
生
to be born		 xìng
姓
surname		 xìng
性
nature

Used as a component

星 (xīng) “star” can stand as a component, and it mostly plays a phonetic role.

xīng
星
star		 xīng
猩
ape		 xīng
腥
fishy (smell)		 xǐng
醒
to wake up

Used as a morpheme/word

Wordlist

  • HSK 1: 星期 (xīngqī) week
  • HSK 5: 明星 (míngxīng) celebrity
  • HSK 6: 零星 (língxīng) fragmentary
  • HSK 6: 卫星 (wèixīng) satellite
  • Beginner: 星 (xīng) star

How to pronounce

First, have the middle of your tongue bowed and raised towards the roof, then say “seen,” and end it with an ng sound.

1st Pinyin Yale IPA
Initial x- sy [ɕ]
Final -ing ying [iŋ]

Chinese character practice sheet

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