society
HSK level
社会 is written with 13 strokes (社: 7, 会: 6). The animation replays automatically.
社会 (shèhuì) is a noun meaning 'society' — the collective of people and the systems, institutions, and relationships that connect them.
It covers the same ground as English 'society' in phrases like 现代社会 (modern society) and 人类社会 (human society), and anchors a large family of formal compounds: 社会主义 (socialism), 社会保险 (social insurance), 社会问题 (social problems). A useful contrast with English: 走上社会 or 步入社会 means 'to enter the real world / working life' after school — Chinese frames leaving education as 'entering society' in a way English does not. The register is neutral in the base word but formal in its institutional compounds.
Note it never means 'society' in the sense of a club or association; that is 社团 or 协会. A viral slang use of 社会 to mean 'streetwise / gangster-cool' exists but is highly colloquial.
Note: Common everywhere, but its compounds (社会主义, 社会保险) belong to formal, political, and institutional vocabulary. In recent slang, 社会 as an adjective ('street-smart, tough') is very colloquial and separate from the standard meaning.
Character by character
Memory hook: A 'gathering group' (社 + 会) — people assembling together is exactly what society is.
社会 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
现代社会的生活节奏很快。
Xiàndài shèhuì de shēnghuó jiézòu hěn kuài.
The pace of life in modern society is fast.
neutral
毕业以后他就步入社会开始工作了。
Bìyè yǐhòu tā jiù bùrù shèhuì kāishǐ gōngzuò le.
After graduating he entered society and started working.
neutral
环境污染是一个严重的社会问题。
Huánjìng wūrǎn shì yí ge yánzhòng de shèhuì wèntí.
Environmental pollution is a serious social problem.
written
我们应该多关心社会上需要帮助的人。
Wǒmen yīnggāi duō guānxīn shèhuì shàng xūyào bāngzhù de rén.
We should care more about people in society who need help.
neutral
社团 is a club, society, or organization (like a school club). 社会 is society as a whole. A student joins a 社团, not a 社会.
会社 (the reversed characters) is a dated/Japanese-loan word for 'company' and is rare in modern Mandarin. Reversing 社会 changes the meaning entirely.
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