闱 meaning and stroke order
Gate, door; living quarters
How to write 闱, stroke by stroke
7 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
Meaning of 闱
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- door to women's room
- gate to palace
How 闱 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Gate.
门 gives the meaning and 韦 hints at the sound.
Radical: 门 (gate), shared by 47 characters on this site.
How to remember 闱
闱 is a gate 门 (mén) wrapped around 韦 (wéi), which gives the sound. Picture a guarded gate 门 that sounds like 韦, closing off the inner rooms of a palace or home.
闱 is a literary character you will mostly meet in fixed words and historical texts. It appears in 宫闱 (gōngwéi, the inner palace) and 春闱 (chūnwéi, the spring imperial exam), since exam halls were also called 闱. Example: 宫闱之事外人难知。(Gōngwéi zhī shì wàirén nán zhī.) Outsiders can hardly know the affairs of the inner palace.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 闱 with 围 (wéi, to surround), which has the same sound and the same 韦 inside but uses the enclosure 囗 instead of the gate 门. If the meaning is surrounding or a perimeter, write 围. If it is a palace gate or inner quarters, write 闱.
Questions about 闱
How many strokes are in 闱?
闱 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 闱 mean?
闱 (wéi) means gate, door; living quarters.
How do you pronounce 闱?
闱 is pronounced wéi, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 闱?
The radical of 闱 is 门, which carries the idea of "gate". Dictionaries list 闱 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 闱?
The traditional form of 闱 is 闈. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 闱 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why is 闱 connected to imperial exams?
In imperial China the exam halls were closed, guarded compounds, so they were also called 闱. That is why 春闱 (chūnwéi) and 秋闱 (qiūwéi) refer to the spring and autumn exams. You will see these terms in historical dramas and novels.
Is 闱 used in modern everyday Chinese?
Not in daily conversation. It is mainly found in written, literary or historical contexts, such as 宫闱 in palace dramas. For an ordinary door or gate, people say 门 (mén).