闺 meaning and stroke order
Women's quarters; lady's apartment
How to write 闺, stroke by stroke
9 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
Meaning of 闺
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- small arched door
- boudoir; lady's chamber
- (fig.) women
How 闺 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Gate.
门 gives the meaning and 圭 hints at the sound.
Radical: 门 (gate), shared by 47 characters on this site.
How to remember 闺
闺 is a door 门 with 圭 (guī) inside. Think of 圭 as giving the sound guī, and the door 门 as the entrance to the private inner rooms where women of a household lived.
Today 闺 appears mostly in compound words rather than alone. 闺女 (guīnü) is a common northern colloquial word for daughter, and 闺蜜 (guīmì) is very popular for a woman's best female friend. Example: 她是我的闺蜜。(Tā shì wǒ de guīmì.) She is my best friend.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 圭 with only one 土, or confuse 闺 with 闰 (rùn, leap, as in leap year), which has 王 inside the door instead of 圭. In 闺女, the second syllable is usually said in the neutral tone, guīnü, not with a full third tone.
Common words with 闺
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
闺 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 闺
How many strokes are in 闺?
闺 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 闺 mean?
闺 (guī) means women's quarters; lady's apartment. A common word with it is 闺女 (guīnü), meaning "maiden; unmarried woman; (coll.) daughter".
How do you pronounce 闺?
闺 is pronounced guī, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 闺?
The radical of 闺 is 门, which carries the idea of "gate". Dictionaries list 闺 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 闺?
The traditional form of 闺 is 閨. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 闺 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 闺 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 闺 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can men use the word 闺蜜?
Traditionally 闺蜜 describes a woman's close female friend. In casual speech some people stretch it, but for men's close friends 哥们儿 (gēmenr) or 兄弟 (xiōngdì) are more typical. A close male friend of a woman is sometimes jokingly called 男闺蜜 (nán guīmì).
Does 闺女 mean daughter or unmarried girl?
It can mean both. In everyday northern Chinese, parents often say 我闺女 (wǒ guīnü) to mean my daughter. In older or more formal contexts it refers to a young unmarried woman.