剔 meaning and stroke order
To pick out; to scrape off; picky
How to write 剔, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Meaning of 剔
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to scrape the meat from bones
- to pick (teeth etc)
- to weed out
How 剔 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Knife.
刂 gives the meaning and 易 hints at the sound.
Radical: 刂 (knife), shared by 71 characters on this site.
How to remember 剔
剔 combines 易 (yì) on the left as the sound hint and 刂, the knife radical, on the right. Picture a knife carefully scraping meat off a bone, picking out only what you want.
剔 is mostly used in compounds rather than alone. 挑剔 (tiāoti) describes a picky or fussy person, and 剔除 (tīchú) means to weed out or remove. Example: 他吃饭很挑剔。(Tā chīfàn hěn tiāoti.) He is very picky about food.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 剔 with 踢 (tī, to kick). They share the same sound and the same 易 part, but 踢 has the foot radical 足 while 剔 has the knife 刂. Also note that in 挑剔 the 剔 is usually read in the neutral tone, tiāoti.
Common words with 剔
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
剔 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 剔
How many strokes are in 剔?
剔 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 剔 mean?
剔 (tī) means to pick out; to scrape off; picky. A common word with it is 挑剔 (tiāoti), meaning "picky; fussy".
How do you pronounce 剔?
剔 is pronounced tī, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 剔?
The radical of 剔 is 刂, which carries the idea of "knife". Dictionaries list 剔 under this radical.
Is 剔 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 剔 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say 'to pick your teeth' in Chinese?
You can say 剔牙 (tī yá). A toothpick is 牙签 (yáqiān), so you might hear 用牙签剔牙 (yòng yáqiān tī yá), to pick your teeth with a toothpick.
Is 挑剔 always negative?
Usually it suggests someone is too fussy. But 无可挑剔 (wúkětiāoti) is positive, meaning so good that nobody can find fault, for example 他的表现无可挑剔 (tā de biǎoxiàn wúkětiāoti), his performance was flawless.