倏
Character Story & Explanation
倏 is best known from the classical idiom '倏忽' (shū hū), meaning 'in the blink of an eye'—used since at least the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) in texts like the Zhuangzi. It appears in philosophical and poetic contexts to evoke impermanence and fleeting time. Modern usage is rare outside literature, journalism, or formal speech—e.g., news headlines describing sudden policy shifts.
The character evolved from seal script; its right side 叔 was adopted purely for sound, while the 亻 radical reflects its grammatical role as an adverbial modifier. No pictographic origin survives—it’s a phono-semantic compound documented in the Shuōwén Jiězì (100 CE), China’s earliest dictionary.
Hi students! Today we’re learning 倏 (shū), a beautiful but rarely used character meaning 'sudden' or 'in an instant'. It’s not in daily spoken Chinese, but appears often in classical poetry, literary essays, and formal writing. Think of it like the English word 'ere'—archaic but vivid. Its sound 'shū' is soft and quick, mirroring its meaning: a light, fleeting moment.
This character belongs to the 亻 (person) radical—not because it’s about people, but because many abstract adverbs in ancient Chinese were written with this radical to indicate action or state related to human experience. Don’t confuse it with more common words like 忽 (hū) or 突 (tū); 倏 carries a poetic, almost lyrical weight.
Though it has only 10 strokes, its structure is elegant: left side is 亻, right side is 叔 (shū)—a phonetic component that also means 'uncle', but here serves only for pronunciation. The combination creates a sense of speed and brevity—like time slipping through fingers. You’ll see it most often in idioms or descriptive phrases, never alone.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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