书
book
shū
What does 书 mean?
书 (shū) is the Chinese word for 'book.' It also extends to 'writing' or 'a letter' in older / formal usage — 家书 (jiāshū) means 'family letter,' 情书 (qíngshū) means 'love letter,' and 书法 (shūfǎ) means 'calligraphy / the art of writing.' In modern everyday Mandarin, though, 书 almost always means 'book.' The character is the simplified form of traditional 書, originally a pictograph of a hand holding a brush. Two notes for English speakers: first, 书 always takes the measure word 本 — one book is 一本书 (yì běn shū), never 一个书; second, the verb 'to read a book' is 看书 (kàn shū, literally 'look at a book'), not 读书 (dú shū), which more often means 'to study' as a life activity.
Character breakdown
book; writing (simplified from 書, originally a hand holding a brush)
Memory hook: 书 is a stylized hand-with-brush — anything that gets written into a bound object is a 书.
Measure word for 书
Example sentences
我喜欢看书。
Wǒ xǐhuan kàn shū.
I like to read books.
spoken
这是一本中文书。
Zhè shì yì běn Zhōngwén shū.
This is a Chinese-language book.
neutral
我的书在哪儿？
Wǒ de shū zài nǎr?
Where is my book?
spoken
他买了三本书。
Tā mǎi le sān běn shū.
He bought three books.
neutral
Common phrases with 书
Synonyms
书本 is a slightly more formal / written word for 'books' as a category — used in phrases like 书本知识 ('book knowledge,' i.e. theoretical learning). In speech you almost always just say 书.
Don't confuse 书 with
Many learners confuse 书 (book) with the Korean-looking hangul shape 수 — they're unrelated. 书 stands alone as the Chinese word for book.
树 ('tree') sounds very similar to 书 (shū first tone vs. shù fourth tone). 一本书 = one book; 一棵树 = one tree.
数 means 'number' (shù) or 'to count' (shǔ). Same pinyin shape as 书, different tone and character. 数 学 = mathematics; 看书 = read a book.