筛

篩
shāi
师 + 竹
HSK 3.0Level 7

Definitions

shāi (bound form) a sieve; to sieve; to sift; to filter; to eliminate through selection; to warm a pot of rice wine (over a fire or in hot water); to pour (wine or tea); (dialect) to strike (a gong)

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 师 represents the sound. Simplified form of 篩.

Semantic: ⺮ Phonetic: 师

About

The traditional character 篩 is a phono-semantic compound: the upper element ⺮ (a reduced form of 竹) means bamboo, and the lower element 師 indicates the sound. Early Chinese sieves were crafted from split bamboo strips, so the bamboo radical is a direct material clue. This semantic connection made 篩 an apt fit for the tool and its function. The simplified character 筛 replaces the complex 師 with its modern shorthand 师. As a noun, 筛 refers to a sieve used to separate fine particles from coarse ones; as a verb, it means to sift, screen, or filter out unwanted matter.

Example Sentences Hide

妈妈用筛子筛米。

Māma yòng shāizi shāi mǐ.

Mom uses a sieve to sift rice.

筛面粉需要筛子。

Shāi miànfěn xūyào shāizi.

Sifting flour requires a sieve.

我们筛选了候选人。

Wǒmen shāixuǎn le hòuxuǎn rén.

We screened the candidates.

农民用筛子筛掉沙子。

Nóngmín yòng shāizi shāi diào shāzi.

Farmers use a sieve to sift out sand.

昨天我筛了整整一袋米。

Zuótiān wǒ shāi le zhěngzhěng yī dài mǐ.

Yesterday I sifted a whole bag of rice.

公司通过面试筛选员工。

Gōngsī tōngguò miànshì shāixuǎn yuángōng.

The company selects employees through interviews.

为了做蛋糕，她仔细地筛面粉。

Wèile zuò dàngāo, tā zǐxì de shāi miànfěn.

In order to make a cake, she sifts the flour carefully.

经过多层筛选，最终只有三人入选。

Jīngguò duō céng shāixuǎn, zuìzhōng zhǐyǒu sān rén rùxuǎn.

After multiple layers of screening, only three people were finally selected.

Related Characters

Component: 师

狮 蛳 浉

Component: 竹

第 等 管 笑 算 答 策 简 笔 篇 筑 符 签 箱

Example Words

筛选 筛子 筛查 过筛 筛糠 筛除