How to Write 谁 (shéi/shuí) — Meaning “Who”

Imagine you see a bird (隹) standing on a speech bubble (讠) and you ask, 'Who is that bird talking to?' The shape of 隹 looks a bit like a bird with a beak and tail, and the speech radical reminds you it's a question word. This visual helps connect the components to the meaning 'who'.

Pay attention to the stroke order: first write the left radical 讠 (dot, then horizontal turning, then vertical), then the right part 隹. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or mixing up the order of the four horizontal strokes in 隹. Keep the left and right balanced, with the 讠 slightly narrower than 隹.

谁 (shéi, 'who') has the right side 隹 (bird), while 诓 (kuāng, 'deceive') has 匡 (a box shape) and 诔 (lěi, 'eulogy') has 耒 (a plow). So the key difference is the right component: 隹 for a person question, 匡 for deception, and 耒 for mourning. Practice reading them in context to avoid confusion.

谁 is the standard question word for 'who' to ask about a person's identity, e.g., 你是谁? (Who are you?). It can also mean 'anyone' or 'someone' in statements like 谁都知道 (everyone knows). In informal speech, both shéi and shuí are acceptable pronunciations, with shéi more common in daily conversation.

Common words containing 谁 include: 谁的 (shéi de) — Whose; 谁家 (shuí jiā) — Whose home; which family; 是谁 (shì shuí) — Who is it?.