拼音
- shì (fourth tone, falling)
to be (am, is, are); yes, that is so; correct, right
字形拆解
Ideographic description
⿱日正The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 日meaning partThe sun, overhead.
- 正meaning partno entry yet正 zhèng: straight, upright, exactly so. The bottom of 是 is this component with its last stroke drawn as a long sweep.
Mnemonic
The sun 日 standing over 正 "straight, upright". At noon the sun is exactly overhead and nothing is out of true, so the character first meant "correct" — the sense still heard in 是的 "that is right" and 不是 "that is not so". From "that is correct" it settled into the ordinary linking verb: 我是学生.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.