Chinese character for stone: 石 (shí)
The Chinese character for stone is 石 (shí). It means stone or rock and appears in 石头 (shítou, stone) and 宝石 (bǎoshí, gemstone). It is a symbol of firmness and endurance.
How 石 is built
石 is a pictograph of a rock 口 at the foot of a cliff 厂. The slanting line on top is the cliff edge and the box below is a stone that has broken off. As a part of other characters it marks rocks and minerals, as in 碗 (bowl, once made of stone) and 磨 (to grind). It is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.
石 shí · stone
- 厂chǎng — "cliff" in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 27)
- 口kǒu — mouth
- 冂 — frame
- 丨 — vertical stroke
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 冂 — frame
Origin hint: A rock 口 at the base of a cliff 厂 (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 石 is used
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 石 is identical in both scripts; the top stroke should extend left over the box to form the cliff.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for stone?
石 (shí) means “stone”.
How do you pronounce 石?
石 is pronounced shí.