艾 (ài): Chinese mugwort or wormwood, moxa, to stop or cut short
艾 (ài) is a Chinese character meaning “chinese mugwort or wormwood.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 乂 (phonetic). It ranks #1283 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 艾 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).
Definitions
- Chinese mugwort or wormwood
- moxa
- to stop or cut short
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 艾 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 艾迪 | ài dí | Eddie (name) |
| 艾滋病 | ài zī bìng | (loanword) AIDS |
| 艾滋 | ài zī | (loanword) AIDS |
| 艾萨克 | ài sà kè | Isaac (name) |
| 布宜诺斯艾利斯 | bù yí nuò sī ài lì sī | Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina |
| 艾滋病毒 | ài zī bìng dú | human immune deficiency virus (HIV) |
| 艾森豪威尔 | ài sēn háo wēi ěr | Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), US army general and politician, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War... |
| 艾哈迈德 | ài hǎ mài dé | Ahmed (name) |
| 艾塔 | ài tǎ | eta (Greek letter Η, η) |
| 艾菲尔铁塔 | ài fēi ěr tiě tǎ | (Tw) Eiffel Tower |
| 艾尔米塔什 | ài ěr mǐ tǎ shí | Ermitazh or Hermitage museum in St Peterburg |
| 艾迪生 | ài dí shēng | Addison (name) |
| 艾萨克·牛顿 | ài sà kè · niú dùn | Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), British mathematician and physicist |
| 艾伯塔 | ài bó tǎ | Alberta province of Canada, capital Edmonton 埃德蒙頓|埃德蒙顿[Ai1 de2 meng2 dun4] |
| 艾奇逊 | ài qí xùn | Atchison or Acheson (name) |
艾 appears in 79 compound words: 77 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 13 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 艾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
a transliteration of the Arabic male given name and surname أَحْمَد (ʔaḥmad), Ahmad
flourishing and still in the ascendant (idiom); rapidly expanding; still growing strong; on the up
a transliteration of the Arabic male given name and surname أَحْمَد (ʔaḥmad), Ahmad
flourishing and still in the ascendant (idiom); rapidly expanding; still growing strong; on the up
Showing 6 of 7 idioms containing 艾.
Example Sentences
艾字由5笔画组成，结构很巧妙。
ài zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .
The character "艾" consists of five strokes and has a very clever structure.
艾司摩尔技术报喜!台积盘后交易首破2000...
ài sī mó ěr jì shù bào xǐ ! tái jī pán hòu jiāo yì shǒu pò 2 0 0 0 . . .
Esmore Technology News! TSMC's after-hours trading broke 2000 for the first time...
台积电受益最大!艾司摩尔EUV效能进化 技术全解密
tái jī diàn shòu yì zuì dà ! ài sī mó ěr E U V xiào néng jìn huà jì shù quán jiě mì
TSMC benefits the most! Esmore EUV Performance Evolution Technology Full Decryption
艾司摩尔突破EUV光源瓶颈 功率提升至千瓦...
ài sī mó ěr tū pò E U V guāng yuán píng jǐng gōng lǜ tí shēng zhì qiān wǎ . . .
Esmore broke through the bottleneck of EUV light sources and increased power to kilowatts...
神韵德州麦克艾伦满场 市长赞震撼人心
shén yùn dé zhōu mài kè ài lún mǎn chǎng shì cháng zàn zhèn hàn rén xīn
Shen Yun Texas McAllen was full of mayors' praises
艾德蒙多认为瓦利德是书呆子。
ài dé mēng duō rènwéi Wǎlì dé shì shūdāizi.
Edmundo thought of Walid as a nerd.
艾德蒙多躲在浴室的角落。
ài dé mēng duō duǒ zài yùshì de jiǎoluò.
Edmundo hid in the back corner of the bathroom.
艾力士有多少辆车？
ài lìshì yǒu duōshao liàng chē?
How many cars does Alex have?
艾马提，我们需要更多肉！
ài mǎ tí, wǒmen xūyào gèng duōròu!
Emet, we need more meat!
艾美莉学了点儿罗马尼亚语。
ài měi lì xué le diǎnr Luómǎníyà yǔ.
Emily studied some Romanian.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 艾 (ài) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 艾 and 长?
How many strokes does 艾 have?
What is the radical of 艾?
What are the components of 艾?
What are common words containing 艾?
What characters sound the same as 艾 (ài)?
Is 艾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 艾 with real-time feedback
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