矮 (ǎi): (of a person) short, (of a wall etc) low, (of rank) inferior (to), lower (than)
矮 (ǎi) is a Chinese character meaning “(of a person) short.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 矢 (semantic) and 委 (phonetic). It ranks #1997 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 矮 dart. Its radical form 矢 (arrow) appears in many related characters such as 短 (duǎn, short), 矢 (shǐ, arrow), 矣 (yǐ, classical final particle, similar to modern 了).
Definitions
- (of a person) short
- (of a wall etc) low
- (of rank) inferior (to)
- lower (than)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 矮 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 矮子 | ǎi zi | short person |
| 矮小 | ǎi xiǎo | short and small |
| 矮胖 | ǎi pàng | short and stout |
| 白矮星 | bái ǎi xīng | white dwarf |
| 矮个儿 | ǎi gè r | a person of short stature |
| 低矮 | dī ǎi | short |
| 矮子里拔将军 | ǎi zi li bá jiāng jūn | lit. choose a general from among the dwarfs |
| 矮黑人 | ǎi hēi rén | Negrito |
| 矮行星 | ǎi xíng xīng | dwarf planet |
| 矮脚白花蛇利草 | ǎi jiǎo bái huā shé lì cǎo | see 白花蛇舌草[bai2 hua1 she2 she2 cao3] |
| 矮人 | ǎi rén | dwarf |
| 黑矮星 | hēi ǎi xīng | black dwarf star |
| 红矮星 | hóng ǎi xīng | red dwarf star |
| 高矮 | gāo ǎi | height (i.e. whether short or tall) |
| 矮杆品种 | ǎi gǎn pǐn zhǒng | short-stalked variety |
矮 appears in 38 compound words: 79 as the first character, 5 as the last, and 16 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 矮 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
学习矮字需要反复练习，才能写得工整。
xué xí ǎi zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .
Mastering the stroke order for the character "矮" requires repeated practice to achieve neat handwriting.
“阳光女子合唱团”遭中国矮化争议 金马影帝张震这样说
yáng guāng nǚ zǐ gě chàng tuán zāo zhōng guó ǎi huà zhēng yì jīn mǎ yǐng dì zhāng zhèn zhè yàng shuō
继南韩、丹麦 喀麦隆也矮化台湾 我缺席WTO反制网友嘘爆
jì nán hán , dān mài 喀 mài lóng yě ǎi huà tái wān wǒ quē xí W T O fǎn zhì wǎng yǒu 嘘 bào
Following South Korea and Denmark, Cameroon has also downplayed Taiwan’s status; my absence from the WTO meeting sparked a backlash from netizens
矮人们是伟大的铁匠。
ǎirénmen shì wěidà de tiějiang.
The dwarves are great smiths.
我哥哥虽然矮小可是很强壮。
Wǒ gēge suīrán ǎixiǎo kěshì hěn qiángzhuàng.
My brother is small but strong.
我知道汤姆比我矮很多。
Wǒ zhīdào Tāngmǔ bǐ wǒ ǎi hěn duō.
I know Tom is a lot shorter than I am.
我把他叫做「矮子」，他就气得不得了。
Wǒ bǎ tā jiàozuò 「 ǎizi 」, tā jiù qì de bù déliǎo.
He got mad at me for calling him Shorty.
她太矮了，看不到围墙外面。
Tā tài ǎi le, kàn bù dào wéiqiáng wàimiàn.
She was too short to see over the fence.
就她的年龄来说，这个女孩算是矮小的。
Jiù tā de niánlíng lái shuō, zhège nǚhái suànshì ǎixiǎo de.
The girl is small for her age.
我们的脑袋都不及他的肩膀吧，他的身高肯定不矮于六呎半。
Wǒmen de nǎodài dōu bù jí tā de jiānbǎng ba, tā de shēngāo kěndìng bù ǎi yú liù chǐ bàn.
I don't think any of our heads would have come up to his shoulder, and I am sure that he could not have measured less than six and a half feet.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 矮 (ǎi) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 矮 and 长?
How many strokes does 矮 have?
What is the radical of 矮?
What are the components of 矮?
What are common words containing 矮?
What characters sound the same as 矮 (ǎi)?
Is 矮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 矮 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.