to lose; to transport
HSK level
输 is written with 13 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
输 (shū) is a verb with two everyday senses that feel unrelated to English speakers but share a root idea of 'sending something out.'
The first and most common in speech is 'to lose' a game, contest, bet, or fight — the direct opposite of 赢 (yíng, to win). You say 输了 (shū le) the moment your team is beaten. The second sense is 'to transport / to convey,' which lives inside compounds like 运输 (yùnshū, transportation) and 输血 (shūxuè, blood transfusion), and has extended into computing as 输入 (shūrù, to input, e.g.
typing a password). Unlike English 'lose,' 输 never means to misplace an object — that is 丢 (diū). And unlike 'lose' in 'lose weight,' 输 is only about losing a competition, not shedding something.
输 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
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Wǒmen duì zuótiān shū le.
Our team lost yesterday.
spoken
他不想输给对手。
Tā bù xiǎng shū gěi duìshǒu.
He doesn't want to lose to his opponent.
neutral
请输入你的密码。
Qǐng shūrù nǐ de mìmǎ.
Please enter your password.
neutral
这条路主要用来运输货物。
Zhè tiáo lù zhǔyào yòng lái yùnshū huòwù.
This road is mainly used to transport goods.
written
败 (to be defeated) is more literary and often used for large-scale defeats — a war, an army, a business collapse (失败). 输 is the everyday word for losing a game or bet in speech.
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