尉 meaning and stroke order
Officer, military rank
How to write 尉, stroke by stroke
11 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
- 11
Meaning of 尉
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- military officer
- used in 尉遲|尉迟[Yu4 chi2]
- used in 尉犁[Yu4 li2] (the name of a place in Xinjiang)
How 尉 is built
Components of the character.
Radical: 寸 (inch), shared by 18 characters on this site.
How to remember 尉
On the left, 尸 sits over 示, and on the right is 寸, a hand. Picture an officer with a steady hand keeping order at a ceremony, and you have 尉 (wèi), a military officer.
尉 (wèi) rarely stands alone. It appears in junior officer ranks such as 少尉 (shàowèi), 中尉 (zhōngwèi), 上尉 (shàngwèi) and 大尉 (dàwèi). Example: 他是一名上尉。(Tā shì yì míng shàngwèi.) He is a captain.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 尉 with 慰 (wèi, to comfort), as in 安慰 (ānwèi). 慰 has 心 underneath, while the military rank 尉 has no heart. Also read 尉 as yù, not wèi, in the surname 尉迟 (Yùchí) and the place name 尉犁 (Yùlí).
Common words with 尉
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 上尉 | shàngwèi | captain (military rank) | |
| 中尉 | zhōngwèi | lieutenant (navy); first lieutenant (army) | |
| 少尉 | shàowèi | second lieutenant (army rank) | |
| 大尉 | dàwèi | captain (army rank); senior captain |
Characters that contain 尉
Learning 尉 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 尉
How many strokes are in 尉?
尉 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 尉 mean?
尉 (wèi) means officer, military rank. A common word with it is 上尉 (shàngwèi), meaning "captain (military rank)".
How do you pronounce 尉?
尉 is pronounced wèi, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 尉?
The radical of 尉 is 寸, which carries the idea of "inch". Dictionaries list 尉 under this radical.
What is the order of the ranks 少尉, 中尉, 上尉 and 大尉?
From lowest to highest it goes 少尉 (second lieutenant), 中尉 (first lieutenant), 上尉 (captain), then 大尉 (senior captain). The prefixes 少, 中, 上 and 大 show the level within the 尉 rank.
When is 尉 pronounced yù instead of wèi?
It is pronounced yù only in a few names. These include the compound surname 尉迟 (Yùchí) and 尉犁 (Yùlí), a place in Xinjiang. Everywhere else, including all the military ranks, it is wèi.