TraceHanzi

溺 meaning and stroke order

nì

To spoil, to pamper, to indulge; to drown

13 strokesRadical 氵
Strokes13
Pinyinnì
ToneTone 4
Frequency#2,969
Printable worksheet

How to write 溺, stroke by stroke

13 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 溺

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

nìfourth tone (falling)
  1. to drown
  2. to indulge
  3. addicted to
  4. to spoil (a child)
niàofourth tone (falling)
  1. variant of 尿[niao4]

How 溺 is built

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

shuǐwater+ruòweak

氵 gives the meaning and 弱 hints at the sound.

Radical: 氵 (water), shared by 467 characters on this site.

How to remember 溺

溺 combines water 氵 with 弱 (ruò, weak). Someone too weak in the water will drown, and a child who is too weakly disciplined is drowned in love, which means spoiled.

溺 (nì) is mostly used in fixed words. It means drowning, as in 溺水 (nìshuǐ), or being overindulged, as in 溺爱 (nì'ài). Example: 父母不要溺爱孩子。(Fùmǔ bú yào nì'ài háizi.) Parents should not spoil their children.

Common mistake: Learners often read 溺 as ruò because of its phonetic part 弱, but the common reading is nì. Also, do not confuse 溺 with 弱 (ruò, weak), which has no water radical.

Common words with 溺

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
溺水nìshuǐto drown
溺死nìsǐto drown
溺爱nì'àito spoil; to pamper

溺 in example sentences

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

那nà个ge溺nì水shuǐ的de男nán人rén抓zhuā紧jǐn了le绳shéng子zi。
The drowning man grasped at the rope.
那nà个ge高gāo个gè少shào年nián救jiù了le溺nì水shuǐ儿ér童tóng。
That tall boy saved the drowning child.
他tā救jiù了le一yí个gè溺nì水shuǐ的de男nán孩hái。
He rescued a boy from drowning.
他tā试shì图tú在zài浴yù缸gāng里lǐ溺nì死sǐ。
He tried to drown himself in his bathtub.
有yǒu几jǐ个gè船chuán员yuán溺nì水shuǐ而ér亡wáng。
Some of the crew were drowned.

Questions about 溺

How many strokes are in 溺?

溺 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 溺 mean?

溺 (nì) means to spoil, to pamper, to indulge; to drown. A common word with it is 溺水 (nìshuǐ), meaning "to drown".

How do you pronounce 溺?

溺 is pronounced nì, in the fourth tone (falling).

What is the radical of 溺?

The radical of 溺 is 氵, which carries the idea of "water". Dictionaries list 溺 under this radical.

What is the difference between 溺水 and 淹死?

溺水 (nìshuǐ) means drowning or being in danger of drowning, and it often appears in news and safety notices. 淹死 (yānsǐ) is more colloquial and clearly means drowned and died.

Can 溺 be read as niào?

Yes. In older texts 溺 can be read niào as a variant of 尿 (niào, urine). In modern Chinese you will almost always read it as nì.