How to Write 卅 (sà) — Meaning “thirty”

Think of 卅 as the number 3 and the number 10 squeezed together: three short horizontal lines (like three ones) crossed by a vertical line (like the ten). Alternatively, imagine a calendar showing the 30th day — the symbol looks like a simplified '30' with three dashes.

Write three evenly spaced horizontal strokes from top to bottom, then draw one vertical stroke from top to bottom through all three horizontals. A common mistake is breaking the vertical into separate parts — it must be a single continuous line. Keep the horizontals the same length and centered on the vertical.

十 has only one horizontal and one vertical (meaning ten). 千 has a top horizontal and then a 十 below (meaning thousand). 卅 has three distinct horizontal lines crossed by a single vertical, meaning thirty. Visually, 卅 is the only one with three horizontal strokes.

卅 is rarely used in daily conversation — it appears mainly in formal or historical contexts, such as dates (卅日 '30th day') or anniversaries (卅年 'thirty years'). Its most famous use is in 五卅 (May 30th), referring to the May 30th Movement of 1925, an important event in modern Chinese history.

Common words containing 卅 include: 卅日 (sà rì) — the 30th day of the month; 卅年 (sà nián) — thirty years; 五卅 (wǔ sà) — May 30th (referring to the May 30th Movement of 1925).