啼 meaning and stroke order
To weep, to whimper; to howl; to crow
How to write 啼, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 啼
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) to cry; to weep loudly
- (bound form) (of a bird or animal) to crow; to hoot; to screech
- variant of 啼[ti2]
How 啼 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 帝 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 啼
啼 is a mouth 口 next to 帝 (dì), which gives the sound. Picture a mouth crying out loudly, like a rooster crowing or a baby wailing.
啼 is a bound form, so it appears in set words rather than alone. It describes loud crying in people and calls of birds or animals, as in 鸡啼 (jī tí, a rooster crows) or 啼哭 (tíkū, to cry loudly). Example: 孩子整天哭哭啼啼。(Háizi zhěngtiān kūkutítí.) The child whimpers and cries all day.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 啼 (tí) with 蹄 (tí, hoof), which shares the phonetic 帝 and the same sound but uses the foot radical 足. Also, do not read it as dì just because of 帝; the sound is tí with a second tone.
Common words with 啼
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 哭哭啼啼 | kūkutítí | to weep endlessly; interminable wailing |
啼 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 啼
How many strokes are in 啼?
啼 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 啼 mean?
啼 (tí) means to weep, to whimper; to howl; to crow. A common word with it is 哭哭啼啼 (kūkutítí), meaning "to weep endlessly; interminable wailing".
How do you pronounce 啼?
啼 is pronounced tí, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 啼?
The radical of 啼 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 啼 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 啼?
The traditional form of 啼 is 嗁. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 啼 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Can I use 啼 by itself to say someone is crying?
Not in everyday speech. Use 哭 (kū) for normal crying, and save 啼 for compounds like 啼哭 or 哭哭啼啼, or for literary descriptions of birds and animals.
What does 哭哭啼啼 suggest about the person crying?
It describes crying that goes on and on, often with whimpering or sobbing. It can sound a little impatient or critical, as if the crying is excessive.