TraceHanzi

椭 meaning and stroke order

tuǒ

Elliptical, oval-shaped; tubular

12 strokesRadical 木Traditional 橢
Strokes12
Pinyintuǒ
ToneTone 3
Frequency#5,471
Printable worksheet

How to write 椭, 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.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12

Meaning of 椭

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

tuǒthird tone (dipping)
  1. ellipse

How 椭 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Wood.

mùtree+duòto accompany

木 gives the meaning and 陏 hints at the sound.

Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.

How to remember 椭

椭 is built from 木 (mù, wood) on the left and 陏 on the right, which hints at the sound. Picture a smooth oval cut from a piece of wood, like the end of a log sliced at an angle.

椭 almost never appears alone. It shows up in 椭圆 (tuǒyuán, ellipse or oval) and words built from it, such as 椭圆形 (tuǒyuánxíng, oval-shaped). Example: 这张桌子是椭圆形的。(Zhè zhāng zhuōzi shì tuǒyuánxíng de.) This table is oval.

Common mistake: Learners often write the right side like 有 or 随 (suí) and leave out the 阝 part, or confuse 椭 with 随. Also keep the third tone, tuǒ, and do not say tuó.

椭 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

她tā有yǒu一yī张zhāng椭tuǒ圆yuán形xíng的de脸liǎn。
She has an oval face.
由yóu于yú轨guǐ道dào是shì椭tuǒ圆yuán形xíng的de，行xíng星xīng和hé太tài阳yáng之zhī间jiān的de距jù离lí不bú会huì总zǒng是shì相xiāng同tóng。
Since the orbits are elliptical, the planets do not always have the same distance from the Sun.

Questions about 椭

How many strokes are in 椭?

椭 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 椭 mean?

椭 (tuǒ) means elliptical, oval-shaped; tubular.

How do you pronounce 椭?

椭 is pronounced tuǒ, in the third tone (dipping).

What is the radical of 椭?

The radical of 椭 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 椭 under this radical.

What is the traditional form of 椭?

The traditional form of 椭 is 橢. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 椭 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.

What is the difference between 椭圆 and 圆?

圆 (yuán) means a circle or round. 椭圆 (tuǒyuán) means an ellipse or oval, a stretched circle. In math class, 椭圆 is the standard term for an ellipse.

Can I use 椭 by itself to mean oval?

Not in normal speech. Say 椭圆 or 椭圆形 instead. For example, 椭圆形的脸 (tuǒyuánxíng de liǎn) means an oval face.