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DICTIONARY

The Chinese word shi - 使 - shǐ
(to use in Chinese)



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Phonetic script (Hanyu Pinyin)

shǐ

Listen to pronunciation
(Mandarin = standard Chinese without accent)

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English translations

to use, to send, to cause someone to, messenger, if,
envoy, supposing, to make

Chinese character and stroke order animation"How do I write 使 ( shǐ ) correctly?"

The strokes that all Chinese characters are composed of are to be written in a certain order which has originally been defined by Chinese calligraphy. Writing all characters according to the same rules assures that their intended shape and style are generally preserved even if written by different writers.
This dictionary shows you the correct stroke order as an animation for all characters so you can learn and understand how to write the character correctly.
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Chinese characters  ( shi / shǐ ) with pronunciation (English translation: to use )
The traditional Chinese characters of shǐ are identical with the modern (simplified) characters displayed above.
Chinese Pinyin example sentence with 使 ( shi / shǐ ) ⓘWriting in Pinyin
Before using this Pinyin example sentence, consider that Chinese characters should always be your first choice in written communication.
If you cannot use Chinese characters, it is preferable to use the Pinyin with tones. Only use the Pinyin without tones if there's no other option (e.g. writing a text message from/to a mobile phone that doesn't support special characters such as ā, í, ǒ, ù).

Zhege xiaoxi shi wo hen gaoxing.
Zhège xiāoxi shǐ wǒ hěn gāoxìng.
 – English translation: This news makes me very happy.

Character complexity
the more strokes, the harder it is to write and memorize this character the more strokes, the harder it is to write and memorize this character the more strokes, the harder it is to write and memorize this character the more strokes, the harder it is to write and memorize this character the more strokes, the harder it is to write and memorize this character 

使 is composed of 8 strokes and therefore is of low complexity compared to the other simplified Chinese characters (average: 13.1 strokes).

Tags and additional information
(Meaning of individual characters, character components etc.)

mission  |  to incite
使 ( shi / shǐ ) belongs to the 500 most common Chinese characters (rank 171)
Chinese example words containing the character 使 ( shi / shǐ )
大使 ( dàshǐ = ambassador ), 大使馆 ( dàshǐguǎn = embassy ), 即使 ( jíshǐ = even if ), 使劲 ( shǐjìn = to put in energy ), 使用 ( shǐyòng = to use ), 使者 ( shǐzhě = emissary ), 天使 ( tiānshǐ = angel )
Other characters that are pronounced shǐ in Chinese
More words that mean to use in Chinese
fèi ( 费 ), jiāng ( 将 ), lìyòng ( 利用 ), shǐyòng ( 使用 ), yǐ ( 以 ), yòng ( 用 )
More words that mean to send in Chinese
jì ( 寄 ), pài ( 派 ), tóu ( 投 ), wěi ( 委 ), zhì ( 致 )

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All words in this dictionary (more to come) were taken from the multimedia Chinese learning software Han Trainer Pro.
This Chinese-English dictionary is currently under development.

 
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Version 5.52 / Last updated: 2026-11-03