revive

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
艹 meaning component

  Meaning component

caocǎo

  

grass

is a component form of .

办 simplified component

  Simplified component

bàn

  

manage

Shorthand for the component in the traditional character .

Evolution

苏 Bronze script Early Spring and Autumn (~700 BC)

Bronze script

Early Spring and Autumn (~700 BC)
苏 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
苏 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
苏 Traditional script Modern

Traditional script

Modern
苏 Simplified script Modern

Simplified script

Modern
Definitions

() 

revive, resurrect; a species of thyme; transliteration of 'Soviet'; Perilla frutescens (Chinese basil or wild red basil); place name; to revive; used as phonetic in transliteration

() 

surname Su; abbr. for Soviet Union 蘇維埃|苏维埃 or 蘇聯|苏联; abbr. for Jiangsu province 江蘇|江苏; abbr. for Suzhou city 蘇州|苏州

() 

see 囉囌|啰苏[luō​sū]

() 

variant of |[sū]

() 

old variant of |[sū]

Most common words with 苏
Freq.
Word
Meaning

place name

苏联

Soviet Union, 1922-1991

苏格兰

Scotland

江苏

Jiangsu province (Kiangsu) in southeast China, abbr. 蘇|苏, capital Nanjing 南京

苏州

Suzhou prefecture level city in Jiangsu