艾 meaning and stroke order
Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris; used in transliterations
How to write 艾, stroke by stroke
5 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 艾
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- Chinese mugwort (Artemisia); moxa
- used in transliteration
- variant of 刈[yi4]
- variant of 乂[yi4]
How 艾 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Grass.
艹 gives the meaning and 乂 hints at the sound.
Radical: 艹 (grass), shared by 421 characters on this site.
How to remember 艾
艾 is made of the grass radical 艹 on top and 乂 below. Think of 乂 as a pair of crossed blades cutting the grass, and the plant they cut is mugwort, 艾 (ài).
Today 艾 (ài) appears most often as a sound in loanwords and names, especially 艾滋病 (àizībìng), AIDS. It also names the mugwort plant used in moxibustion. Example: 艾滋病是一种严重的疾病。(Àizībìng shì yì zhǒng yánzhòng de jíbìng.) AIDS is a serious disease.
Common mistake: In the idiom 自怨自艾 the character is read yì, not ài, and many native speakers get this wrong too. Also do not write 乂 at the bottom as 又 (yòu). 乂 is just two crossing strokes.
Common words with 艾
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
艾 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 艾
Learning 艾 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 艾
How many strokes are in 艾?
艾 is written with 5 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 艾 mean?
艾 (ài) means mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris; used in transliterations. A common word with it is 艾滋病 (àizībìng), meaning "(loanword) AIDS".
How do you pronounce 艾?
艾 has more than one reading: ài and yì. The most common is ài, said in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 艾?
The radical of 艾 is 艹, which carries the idea of "grass". Dictionaries list 艾 under this radical.
Is 艾 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 艾 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 自怨自艾 mean?
It means to blame and regret oneself, originally with the sense of correcting one's own faults. Here 艾 is read yì and carries the old meaning of cutting away, like 刈 (yì). In modern use it often just means wallowing in self-pity.
Why is mugwort linked to Chinese medicine?
Dried mugwort, called moxa, is burned near points on the body in a practice called 艾灸 (àijiǔ), moxibustion. That is why 艾 appears in words about traditional medicine.