素

Translingual

Etymology

Pictogram (象形) – hands braiding thread 糸.

In modern form, top component looks like 生 without the diagonal stroke – compare 責, 青.

Han character

素 (radical 120 糸+4, 10 strokes, cangjie input 手一女戈火 (QMVIF), four-corner 5090₃)

1. white (silk)
2. plain
3. vegetarian
4. formerly
5. normally
6. element

See also

• 責 青

References

• KangXi: page 918, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 27300
• Dae Jaweon: page 1348, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 3368, character 3
• Unihan data for U+7D20

---

Cantonese

Hanzi

素 (Yale sou3)

---

Japanese

Kanji

素 (grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Go'on: す (su)
• Kan'on: そ (so)
• Kun: しろぎぬ (shiroginu), きじ (kiji), もと (moto)

---

Korean

Hanja

素 (hangeul 소, revised so, McCune-Reischauer so, Yale so)

---

Mandarin

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Hanzi

素 (pinyin sù (su4), Wade-Giles su⁴)

Compounds

• 素白
• 素不相识
• 素材
• 素菜
• 素餐
• 素常
• 素淡
• 素服
• 素裹
• 素洁
• 素净
• 素酒
• 素来
• 素昧平生
• 素面
• 素描
• 素朴
• 素气
• 素日
• 素什锦
• 素食
• 素数
• 素昔
• 素席
• 素性
• 素雅
• 素养
• 素油
• 素愿
• 素志
• 素质

---

Vietnamese

Han character

素 (tố, tó)