赖 meaning and stroke order
To depend on; to hang on in a place; bad
How to write 赖, 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 赖
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to depend on
- to hang on in a place
- bad
- to renege (on promise)
- to disclaim
- to rat (on debts)
How 赖 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Money.
贝 gives the meaning and 剌 hints at the sound.
Radical: 贝 (sea shell), shared by 63 characters on this site.
How to remember 赖
赖 is built from 剌 (là), which gives the sound, and 贝 (bèi, shell), an old symbol for money. Picture someone who leans on other people's money, or who owes money and denies it. That covers both senses: relying on others and dodging debts.
赖 rarely stands alone in formal writing. It mostly appears in words like 依赖 (yīlài, to depend on) and 信赖 (xìnlài, to trust). In casual speech, 赖 by itself can mean to blame or to refuse to leave, and 不赖 (bùlài) means pretty good. Example: 这家饭馆真不赖。(Zhè jiā fànguǎn zhēn bùlài.) This restaurant is really not bad.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse the left part 剌 (là) with 刺 (cì, thorn). 剌 has a horizontal stroke through the middle like 束, while 刺 has 朿 on the left. Also, 赖 is fourth tone lài, not lái like 来.
Common words with 赖
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
赖 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 赖
Learning 赖 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 赖
How many strokes are in 赖?
赖 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 赖 mean?
赖 (lài) means to depend on; to hang on in a place; bad. A common word with it is 依赖 (yīlài), meaning "to depend on; to be dependent on".
How do you pronounce 赖?
赖 is pronounced lài, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 赖?
The radical of 赖 is 贝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 赖 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 赖?
The traditional form of 赖 is 賴 and 頼. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 赖 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 赖 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 赖 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 赖 mean when someone says 别赖我?
Here 赖 means to blame or pin something on someone. 别赖我 (bié lài wǒ) means don't blame me. It is common in everyday speech.
Is 赖 positive or negative?
It depends on the word. 信赖 and 依赖 are neutral or positive, and 不赖 is praise. But 耍赖 (shuǎlài, to go back on your word) and 无赖 (wúlài, rascal) are clearly negative.