谁

誰

shéi

讠 + 隹

HSK 2.0Level 1

HSK 3.0Level 1

Definitions

shéi/shuí (pronoun) who

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 隹 represents the sound.

Semantic: 讠 Phonetic: 隹

About

谁 (the simplified form of traditional 誰) is a phono-semantic compound. Its left component 讠, an abbreviated form of the speech radical 言, signals that the meaning relates to speech or questioning. The right component 隹 depicts a short-tailed bird and acts purely as the phonetic, indicating the character's pronunciation. This character functions solely as an interrogative pronoun, corresponding to English 'who' or 'whom,' used to inquire about a person's identity. It also appears in rhetorical questions to stress that no one possesses a particular characteristic or is capable of a specific action.

Etymology Hide

Bronze Late Warring States (~250 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

这是谁的书？

Zhè shì shéi de shū?

Whose book is this?

谁想去公园玩？

Shéi xiǎng qù gōngyuán wán?

Who wants to go to the park to play?

刚才谁给你打电话了？

Gāngcái shéi gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà le?

Who called you just now?

这件事到底是谁做的？

Zhè jiàn shì dàodǐ shì shéi zuò de?

Who on earth did this?

谁知道明天会不会下雨呢？

Shéi zhīdào míngtiān huì bù huì xià yǔ ne?

Who knows if it will rain tomorrow or not?

不管是谁，都要遵守规则。

Bùguǎn shì shéi, dōu yào zūnshǒu guīzé.

No matter who it is, everyone must follow the rules.

你猜我在街上遇到谁了？

Nǐ cāi wǒ zài jiē shang yù dào shéi le?

Guess who I met on the street?

谁也无法预料未来的事情。

Shéi yě wúfǎ yùliào wèilái de shìqíng.

No one can predict what will happen in the future.

Related Characters

Component: 讠

Component: 隹

谁