素材 (sùcái) literally combines 素 (sù), meaning 'elementary', 'basic', or 'unadorned', and 材 (cái), meaning 'material' or 'resource'. Together, they refer to raw, unprocessed material used as a foundation for creation—such as images, audio clips, text excerpts, or video footage in design, writing, or filmmaking. Unlike 成品 (chénɡpǐn, 'finished product'), 素材 retains its original, unedited form and is selected or collected for later adaptation.

The term is widely used in digital media, education, journalism, and arts. It emphasizes functional utility rather than aesthetic completion: a photographer’s archive of landscape photos is 素材; a writer’s collection of interview notes is also 素材. While often associated with creative work, it can also refer to factual data or real-life observations used to support arguments or stories. It is neutral in register and common in both spoken and written Mandarin.