Definition
屎 (shǐ) is the everyday, colloquial word for feces or excrement — it's what you'd say in daily speech or to a doctor (e.g., 拉屎, 屎化验). 粪 (fèn) is more formal and typically refers to manure/dung in agricultural contexts; 粪便 (fènbiàn) is the formal, scientific term for stool. As a bound form, 屎 can also mean 'secretion' (earwax, eye mucus), which 粪 and 粪便 do not.
noun
fecesexcrementstool(bound form) secretion (of the ear, eye, etc.)
Easily confused
- 屡lǚlook-alikerepeatedly, time and again (formal/literary; commonly used in 屡次)
- 是shìsound-aliketo be (linking verb, followed by a noun or noun phrase)
- 局júlook-alikeclassifier for games: match, set, round
- 事shìsound-alikething; matter; affair
- 时shísound-alike(noun) time, period, season
- 试shìsound-aliketo try; to test
- 使shǐsound-aliketo cause, to make (someone do something)
- 十shísound-aliketen
- 室shìsound-alikeroom (often as a suffix in compound words)
- 式shìsound-alike(suffix) -style; -type; -form; -pattern
Examples
- 屎。Kuài dài gǒu chūqù lā shǐ.Hurry up and take the dog outside to poop.
- 屎。Yīshēng ràng wǒ huàyàn yíxià shǐ.The doctor told me to get a stool test.
- 屎？Dì shàng zěnme yǒu yì duī shǐ?Why is there a pile of feces on the ground?
Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.