埃 meaning and stroke order
Fine dust; dirt; Angstrom
How to write 埃, 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.
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Meaning of 埃
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- dust
- dirt
- angstrom
- phonetic ai or e
How 埃 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 矣 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 埃
埃 is earth 土 (tǔ) on the left, telling you the meaning is dirt or dust, plus 矣 (yǐ) on the right, which gives the sound. Picture tiny bits of earth floating in the air as fine dust.
On its own 埃 is rare. It mostly appears in 尘埃 (chén'āi, dust), in the science unit 埃米 (āimǐ, angstrom), and as a sound in foreign names like 埃及 (Āijí, Egypt). Example: 事情终于尘埃落定了。(Shìqing zhōngyú chén'āi luòdìng le.) Things have finally settled down.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 埃 as yǐ because of the component 矣 (yǐ), but 埃 is pronounced āi with a first tone. It is also easy to confuse with 挨 (āi, to be next to), which has the hand radical 扌 instead of earth 土.
Common words with 埃
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
埃 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 埃
How many strokes are in 埃?
埃 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 埃 mean?
埃 (āi) means fine dust; dirt; Angstrom. A common word with it is 埃米 (āimǐ), meaning "angstrom (Å)".
How do you pronounce 埃?
埃 is pronounced āi, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 埃?
The radical of 埃 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 埃 under this radical.
Why is 埃 used in the names of countries like Egypt and Ethiopia?
埃 is often used to write the sounds ai or e in foreign names. That is why you see it in 埃及 (Āijí, Egypt) and 埃塞俄比亚 (Āisài'ébǐyà, Ethiopia). In these words it carries sound only, not the meaning of dust.
Can I say 埃 alone to mean dust in everyday speech?
Not really. In daily speech people say 灰尘 (huīchén) or 尘土 (chéntǔ) for dust. 尘埃 sounds more written or literary, and 埃 by itself is mainly used for the angstrom unit in technical writing.