How to Write 袖 (xiù) — Meaning “Sleeve”

Imagine a sleeve (袖) as a tube (由) attached to clothing (衤). The right part 由 looks like a tube or tunnel, and the left radical reminds you it's made of cloth. This visual link helps you recall that 袖 means "sleeve."

Write the left radical 衤 with a narrow width, starting with a dot, then a horizontal stroke, a vertical stroke, and finally a left‑falling stroke and a dot. The right part 由 has five strokes: vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, vertical, and horizontal at the bottom. A common mistake is making the left radical too wide or misplacing the dot on the lower right.

袖 (sleeve) includes the component 由, while 衩 (slit in clothing) contains 叉 (fork) and 衫 (shirt or garment) contains 彡 (three strokes). They all share the clothing radical 衤, but their meanings and visual shapes are distinct. For example, 衫 often refers to an upper garment like a shirt, whereas 袖 specifically means the sleeve part.

袖 is commonly used in words like 袖子 (sleeve), 短袖 (short sleeves), and 长袖 (long sleeves) when describing clothing. It also appears in the idiom 袖手旁观, meaning "to stand by with folded sleeves" — that is, to look on without getting involved. In traditional Chinese culture, wide sleeves were sometimes used as pockets to carry small items.

Common words containing 袖 include: 袖子 (xiù zi) — Sleeve; 短袖 (duǎn xiù) — Short sleeves.; 长袖 (cháng xiù) — Long sleeves.