失 shī to lose; to miss; to fail
Made up of [大 dà big; great; large; very radical 37, 丿 piě 'slash' radical 4]Made with 5 strokes.
Ancient picture of something falling from a person's hand and hence 'to lose something' or 'to fail'
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 大 dà component: 夫 fū (husband) 美 měi (beautiful) ; 莫 mò (do not) ; 奇 qí (strange) ; 庆 qìng (celebrate) ; 太 tài (too) ; 天 tiān (sky) ; 头 tóu (head) ; 央 yāng (center) ; 夷 yí (barbarians)
Also uses 丿 piě component: 必 bì (certainly) 弟 dì (younger brother) ; 乎 hū (at) ; 久 jiǔ (long time) ; 九 jiǔ (nine) ; 乐 lè (music) ; 么 me (what) ; 乃 nǎi (to be) ; 年 nián (year) ; 少 shǎo (less) ; 生 shēng (produce) ; 勿 wù (do not) ; 戊 wù (fifth (ordinal)) ; 午 wǔ (noon) ; 义 yì (justice) ; 之 zhī (him) ; 族 zú (clan)
Sounds same
狮 shī (lion) ; 师 shī ; 尸 shī (corpse) ; 诗 shī (poem) ; 施 shī (to grant)Different tone
十 shí (ten) ; 时 shí (time) ; 石 shí (rock) ; 实 shí (real) ; 饣 shí (food) ; 食 shí (eat) ; 史 shǐ (history) ; 始 shǐ (to begin) ; 矢 shǐ (arrow) ; 豕 shǐ (pig) ; 是 shì (is) ; 事 shì (matter) ; 市 shì (market) ; 世 shì (life) ; 礻 shì (spirit) ; 士 shì (bachelor) ; 氏 shì (clan name) ; 示 shì (to show) ; 室 shì (room)Pronunciation
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Proverbs
城门失火,殃及池鱼 chéng mén shī huó, yāng jí chí yú A drastic action may unintentionally affect other people. Show consideration for all塞翁失马,安知非福 sài wēng shī mǎ, ān zhī fēi fú The story ➚ is that a man lost his horse but actually it went over the Great Wall and brought back several horses with it. A setback may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
失败是成功之母 shī bài shì chéng gōng zhī mǔ Learning from mistakes
志不可慢时不可失 zhì bù kě màn shí bù kě shī Keep hold of your hopes and dreams, waste no time in achieving them
智者千虑必有一失 zhì zhě qiān lǜ bì yǒu yī shī One small mistake does not discredit a wise person
失斧疑邻 shī fǔ yí lín Groundless suspicions. Jumping to conclusions.