票 meaning and stroke order
Ticket; ballot; banknote
How to write 票, 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 票
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- ticket
- ballot
- banknote
- person held for ransom
- amateur performance of Chinese opera
- classifier for groups, batches, business transactions
How 票 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Flames 覀 over an altar 示, referring to a Chinese tradition of burning fake money as an offering.
Radical: 示 (altar), shared by 8 characters on this site.
How to remember 票
Picture flames 覀 rising over an altar 示, where people burn paper money as an offering. That slip of paper burning on the altar became 票 (piào), any slip of paper with value, like a ticket or a banknote.
票 usually appears in compounds for tickets and papers: 机票 (jīpiào) plane ticket, 门票 (ménpiào) admission ticket, 发票 (fāpiào) receipt, and 投票 (tóupiào) to vote. Example: 我买了两张票。 (Wǒ mǎi le liǎng zhāng piào.) I bought two tickets.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 票 (piào) with 漂 (piāo, to float) and 飘 (piāo, to flutter), which contain 票 as a sound part but have a first tone. Also, the top is 覀, not 西, so the middle strokes do not hook down like the 西 in 要 is often miswritten.
Common words with 票
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 机票 | jīpiào | plane ticket; airline ticket | HSK 1 |
| 车票 | chēpiào | ticket for a bus or train | HSK 1 |
| 门票 | ménpiào | ticket (for theater, cinema etc) | HSK 1 |
| 邮票 | yóupiào | (postage) stamp | HSK 3 |
| 票价 | piàojià | ticket price; fare; admission fee | HSK 3 |
| 发票 | fāpiào | invoice; receipt; bill; uniform invoice (abbr. for 統一發票|统一发票[tong3 yi1 fa1 piao4]) | HSK 4 |
| 彩票 | cǎipiào | lottery ticket | HSK 5 |
| 投票 | tóupiào | to vote; to cast a vote | HSK 6 |
| 股票 | gǔpiào | share certificate; stock (finance) | HSK 6 |
| 退票 | tuìpiào | to bounce (a check); to return a ticket | HSK 6 |
| 支票 | zhīpiào | check (bank); cheque | HSK 7-9 |
| 钞票 | chāopiào | paper money; a bill (e.g. 100 yuan) | HSK 7-9 |
| 票房 | piàofáng | box office | HSK 7-9 |
| 售票 | shòupiào | to sell tickets | HSK 7-9 |
票 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 票
Learning 票 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 票
How many strokes are in 票?
票 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 票 mean?
票 (piào) means ticket; ballot; banknote. A common word with it is 机票 (jīpiào), meaning "plane ticket; airline ticket".
How do you pronounce 票?
票 is pronounced piào, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 票?
The radical of 票 is 示, which carries the idea of "altar". Dictionaries list 票 under this radical.
Is 票 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 票 is part of the HSK 1 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 1.
What measure word goes with 票?
Use 张 (zhāng) for tickets and other flat slips, as in 一张票 (yì zhāng piào). For votes you can also say 一票 (yí piào), one vote.
Why does 票 mean a kidnapping hostage?
In older and informal Chinese, a person held for ransom was called 肉票 (ròupiào), literally a flesh ticket, because the captive was traded for money. The verb 绑票 (bǎngpiào) means to kidnap for ransom.