夷 meaning and stroke order
Ancient barbarian tribes
How to write 夷, stroke by stroke
6 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
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Meaning of 夷
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- non-Han people, esp. to the East of China
- barbarians
- to wipe out
- to exterminate
- to tear down
- to raze
How 夷 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A man 大 armed with a bow 弓.
Radical: 大 (big), shared by 46 characters on this site.
How to remember 夷
Picture a man 大 (dà) with a bow 弓 (gōng) wrapped across his body. In ancient texts this armed archer stood for the 夷 (yí), peoples living beyond the Han heartland, especially to the east.
Today 夷 (yí) rarely appears alone and is mostly found in set phrases and idioms. The "level, flatten" sense survives in 夷为平地 (yíwéipíngdì), and the "smooth, safe" sense in 化险为夷. Example: 他总能化险为夷。(Tā zǒng néng huàxiǎnwéiyí.) He always manages to turn danger into safety.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 夷 (yí) with 姨 (yí, aunt), which adds the woman radical 女 and sounds identical. Also, in 匪夷所思 the 夷 does not mean barbarians. The idiom means something so strange that ordinary people could not think of it.
Common words with 夷
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 化险为夷 | huàxiǎnwéiyí | to turn peril into safety (idiom); to avert disaster | HSK 7-9 |
| 夷为平地 | yíwéipíngdì | to level; to raze to the ground | |
| 匪夷所思 | fěiyísuǒsī | unimaginable; outrageous |
夷 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 夷
Learning 夷 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 夷
How many strokes are in 夷?
夷 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 夷 mean?
夷 (yí) means ancient barbarian tribes. A common word with it is 化险为夷 (huàxiǎnwéiyí), meaning "to turn peril into safety (idiom); to avert disaster".
How do you pronounce 夷?
夷 is pronounced yí, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 夷?
The radical of 夷 is 大, which carries the idea of "big". Dictionaries list 夷 under this radical.
Is 夷 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 夷 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 夷 offensive to use today?
Historically 夷 was a label for non-Han outsiders and could be condescending, so avoid using it to describe people. In modern idioms like 化险为夷 and 匪夷所思 it carries no insult and is perfectly normal.
What does 夷 mean in the idiom 化险为夷?
Here 夷 means level or safe, the opposite of 险 (xiǎn, dangerous). The idiom literally says to change danger into smoothness, so it means getting safely out of a crisis.