三 sān

三 simplified

三 traditional · same

sān

three · thrice · repeatedly

HSK 1 笔画 3 部首一 (one) 声调第一声 (level)

笔顺 bǐshùn · Stroke order

Click the character to replay. Press Try drawing to write it yourself.

字源 zìyuán Etymology & Structure

字源洞见 zìyuán dòngjiàn · Etymological Insight

三 is three horizontal strokes, laid one above the other. The logic is additive: 一 is one stroke (unity), 二 is two strokes (duality), 三 is three strokes (completion). The oracle-bone form is already the same: three parallel lines, equally spaced, fully horizontal. There is no hidden complexity in the form; the transparency is the point.

The deeper interest is what three means. In Chinese cosmological thought, three is the number at which multiplication begins. One is undifferentiated unity. Two introduces opposition: yin and yang, heaven and earth, self and other. Three creates a third term that mediates between the two — and from that mediation, variety and abundance become possible. Three is not just a count; it is the first move toward the infinite.

The Shuowen Jiezi defines 三 as: 三，天地人之道也 — "Three: the way of Heaven, Earth, and the Human." The number is inseparable from the cosmological structure it names.

三才 sāncái The Three Realms — Heaven, Earth, Human

道德经 · Laozi Chapter 42

The most famous sentence about three in all of Chinese literature is Laozi chapter 42: 道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物 — "The Way generates one; one generates two; two generates three; three generates the ten thousand things." The sequence is not arithmetic but cosmogonic. Three is the inflection point where generation becomes exponential. Everything that exists — 万物, the ten thousand things, the whole of reality — descends from the moment that three came into being.

天地人三才 sāncái — the three powers or three talents — is the Yijing's foundational structure. Heaven (天) governs above; Earth (地) grounds below; the Human (人) stands between and mediates. The three horizontal strokes of 三 can be read as this cosmological stack: the top stroke is Heaven, the bottom stroke is Earth, and the middle stroke is the Human suspended between them. Whether or not this was the etymological intention, it became the interpretive tradition.

三生有幸 sān shēng yǒu xìng — "blessed in three lifetimes" — extends the pattern into time. To be fortunate across past, present, and future lives simultaneously is the fullest conceivable blessing. The phrase is used as a gracious compliment upon meeting someone distinguished: "I am honored across all three lifetimes to meet you."

三的用法 sān de yòngfǎ Emphatic Usage — Three Means "Repeatedly"

构词规律 gòucí guīlǜ · 三 as "multiple times; repeatedly" In Chinese, 三 frequently functions as a rhetorical intensifier rather than a precise count. The number three signals "enough times that it matters": consider carefully, do it thoroughly, do it again. This usage has deep classical roots and appears across registers from formal prose to everyday speech.

再三 zàisān — "again three times" = again and again, repeatedly. The most common pure intensifier.
三思 sānsī — "think three times" = consider carefully; think before acting (from the Analects).
三番五次 sān fān wǔ cì — "three rounds and five occasions" = time and again, repeatedly.
三令五申 sān lìng wǔ shēn — "three orders and five decrees" = to issue repeated warnings and orders.

再三 zàisān again and again; repeatedly; over and over

Adv 副词 fùcí

再 zài (again; once more) + 三 sān (three). Three times and then some: the most natural adverb of repeated action in Mandarin. Appears before a verb to signal that someone did something multiple times, often with increasing emphasis or urgency.

他再三强调这一点。

Tā zàisān qiángdiào zhè yī diǎn.

He emphasized this point again and again.

我再三叮嘱他要小心。

Wǒ zàisān dīngzhǔ tā yào xiǎoxīn.

I warned him repeatedly to be careful.

三思 sānsī to think carefully; to think three times before acting

V 动词 dòngcí

三 sān + 思 sī (to think; to reflect). From the Analects: 季文子三思而后行 — "Ji Wenzi thought three times before acting." Confucius's comment was that twice was already sufficient, but the wisdom of pausing before action became proverbial. 三思而后行 (think three times, then move) is one of the most quoted classical phrases in modern Chinese.

三思而后行。

Sānsī ér hòu xíng.

Think carefully before you act.

做决定前要三思。

Zuò juédìng qián yào sānsī.

You should think carefully before making a decision.

核心构词 héxīn gòucí Key 三 Compounds

三国 Sānguó the Three Kingdoms; the era of three rival states

N 名词 míngcí

三 sān + 国 guó (kingdom; state; country). The Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE), when China split into Wei (魏), Shu (蜀), and Wu (吴) after the collapse of the Han dynasty. 三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) by Luo Guanzhong is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature and arguably the most culturally influential novel in East Asian history. Its characters — Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Guan Yu — remain household names across China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

《三国演义》是四大名著之一。

Sānguó Yǎnyì shì sì dà míngzhù zhī yī.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the Four Great Classical Novels.

三国时期，英雄辈出。

Sānguó shíqī, yīngxióng bèi chū.

The Three Kingdoms era was full of heroes.

三民主义 Sān Mín Zhǔyì the Three Principles of the People

N 名词 míngcí

三 sān + 民 mín (people) + 主义 zhǔyì (doctrine; -ism). Sun Yat-sen's foundational political ideology for the Republic of China, established in the early twentieth century. The three principles are: 民族 mínzú (Nationalism — self-determination for the Chinese people), 民权 mínquán (Democracy — political rights for citizens), and 民生 mínshēng (People's Livelihood — economic welfare). Remains the official ideology of the Republic of China on Taiwan.

孙中山提出了三民主义。

Sūn Zhōngshān tíchū le Sān Mín Zhǔyì.

Sun Yat-sen put forward the Three Principles of the People.

三字经 Sānzì Jīng the Three Character Classic

N 名词 míngcí

三 sān + 字 zì (character; written word) + 经 jīng (classic; canonical text). A classical primer written in three-character rhyming lines, composed in the Song dynasty and memorized by virtually every literate child in pre-modern China. Its opening line 人之初，性本善 ("At the beginning of human life, the nature is originally good") is one of the most recognized sentences in the Chinese language. A child who mastered the 三字经 had both literacy and a grounding in Confucian ethics simultaneously.

人之初，性本善。

Rén zhī chū, xìng běn shàn.

At the beginning of human life, the nature is originally good. (Opening of the 三字经)

三纲五常 sāngāng wǔcháng the Three Bonds and Five Constants — the Confucian social order

N 名词 míngcí

The three bonds (三纲): ruler-minister, father-son, husband-wife. The five constants (五常): benevolence (仁), righteousness (义), ritual propriety (礼), wisdom (智), and trustworthiness (信). Systematized in the Han dynasty, this framework defined Confucian social structure for two thousand years. Still referenced in discussions of traditional Chinese values and their modern legacy.

三纲五常是传统儒家伦理的核心。

Sāngāng wǔcháng shì chuántǒng Rújiā lúnlǐ de héxīn.

The Three Bonds and Five Constants are the core of traditional Confucian ethics.

三餐 sāncān three meals a day

N 名词 míngcí

三 sān + 餐 cān (meal). The three daily meals: breakfast (早餐 zǎocān), lunch (午餐 wǔcān), and dinner (晚餐 wǎncān). The phrase 一日三餐 (three meals a day) is the standard way to refer to daily sustenance, and by extension to reliable, ordinary livelihood. 有饭吃，有三餐 (having three meals) stands for basic sufficiency.

他每天按时吃三餐。

Tā měitiān àn shí chī sāncān.

He eats three meals a day on schedule.

成语 chéngyǔ Idioms & Set Phrases

三人成虎 sān rén chéng hǔ "three people make a tiger" — rumors repeated often enough become accepted as fact From the Warring States period: a minister asked his king whether he would believe a tiger was in the market if one person said so. No. Two? No. Three? The king admitted he probably would. The minister was making a point about false accusations: even an obvious absurdity becomes believable through sheer repetition and the weight of consensus. The idiom is used to warn against groupthink, rumor, and the power of coordinated misinformation. One of the most quoted classical parables in modern discussions of media and propaganda.

三心二意 sān xīn èr yì "three hearts, two intentions" — indecisive; half-hearted; wavering Three hearts pulling in different directions, two sets of intentions competing: the image is of someone who cannot commit. Used to criticize a lack of decisiveness or sincerity in a relationship, a task, or a position. 做事不能三心二意 (You can't do things half-heartedly). The opposite is 一心一意 (one heart, one intention), the idiom of total commitment and focus.

三顾茅庐 sān gù máolú "three visits to the thatched cottage" — to seek out a person of talent with great persistence and sincerity The most celebrated episode from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Liu Bei, ruler of Shu, visits the hermit Zhuge Liang three times at his remote thatched cottage before Zhuge Liang agrees to leave seclusion and serve as his strategist. The first two visits find Zhuge Liang absent or resting; only on the third does Liu Bei wait outside in the cold until Zhuge Liang wakes. The act of triple persistence demonstrates that Liu Bei's need is genuine and his respect sincere. The idiom is now standard for any earnest, repeated effort to recruit someone talented — in business, academia, or government — where the first or second refusal is not taken as final.

事不过三 shì bù guò sān "nothing happens more than three times" — the third time is the last; do not push beyond three A folk saying rather than a classical text quotation: three is the outer limit of tolerance or recurrence. The implication varies by context: a mistake forgiven twice should not happen a third time; an opportunity missed three times will not come again; a warning issued three times has exhausted the grace period. The saying works because it anchors the abstract limit of patience to a concrete, culturally resonant number.

记忆法 jìyìfǎ · Master Retention Image

Three horizontal strokes: the top is Heaven, the bottom is Earth, the middle is the Human suspended between them. That is the whole of 三's cosmological weight in a single glyph. When Laozi wrote 二生三，三生万物, he was saying that everything in existence flows from the moment that middle stroke appeared between the other two.

The character's tone is first — flat, unwavering, level — the tone of Heaven itself in some traditional associations. Stroke order goes top to bottom, which is also the cosmological order: Heaven first, then the Human, then Earth last as the foundation.

The easiest memory anchor: every time you say 三思而后行, you are practicing the number's core function. Three is the number of sufficient deliberation. Not one thought (impulsive), not two (still incomplete), but three: the minimum for completion before action.