刷

shuā
#1,821 most
frequent character
brush, scrub, paste up
verb

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

刷 first showed a squatting person with a cloth in hand; 尸 is the person, 巾 is the cloth, and 刂 was once 又, a hand. The first sense was 'to wipe clean', which grew to 'to brush, scrub' and 'to paint'. Read shuà, it means 'to select'.

Drawn as: squatting person; cloth in hand

刷 as a component in other characters

sound2 characters
唰涮

Ask DeepSeek

Example Sentences

我每天早上都刷牙。
wǒ měitiān zǎoshàng dū shuāyá 。
I brush my teeth every morning.
她用刷子刷墙。
tā yòng shuāzǐ shuāqiáng 。
She uses a brush to scrub the wall.
我们需要刷油漆。
wǒmen xūyào shuā yóuqī 。
We need to paint.

Same Characters, Different Readings

刷shuà
to select

Words with similar meanings

涂tú
to coat
涂 is often used in the context of applying a coating or layer, which can include painting, thus being somewhat broader than 刷.
清洗qīngxǐ
to wash
清洗 specifically refers to washing and cleaning, which overlaps with the scrubbing aspect of 刷.

Words Starting With 刷

刷牙shuā yá
to brush teeth

Your word lists

Sign in to add this word to your private lists.