裁 (cái): to cut, to judge
裁 (cái) is a Chinese character meaning “to cut, to judge.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 衤 (clothing). It ranks #1198 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 裁 to cut 戈 cloth 衣. Its radical form 衤 (clothing) appears in many related characters such as 衣 (yī, clothing), 表 (biǎo, exterior surface), 装 (zhuāng, dress, install).
Definitions
- to cut, to judge
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTo cut 戈 cloth 衣
Decomposition: ⿹⿱十戈衣 (layout: surround-from-upper-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 裁 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 裁
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 裁决 | cái jué | ruling |
| 裁缝 | cái féng | to make an item of clothing |
| 制裁 | zhì cái | to punish |
| 裁定 | cái dìng | ruling |
| 独裁者 | dú cái zhě | dictator |
| 裁员 | cái yuán | to cut staff |
| 独裁 | dú cái | dictatorship |
| 仲裁 | zhòng cái | arbitration |
| 裁判员 | cái pàn yuán | referee |
| 剪裁 | jiǎn cái | to tailor (clothes) |
| 裁剪 | cái jiǎn | to cut out |
| 裁减 | cái jiǎn | to reduce |
| 裁缝店 | cái féng diàn | tailor's shop |
| 体裁 | tǐ cái | genre |
| 别出心裁 | bié chū xīn cái | to hit on sth new (idiom) |
裁 appears in 50 compound words: 54 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 14 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 裁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
公司决定裁员百分之十，以应对经济下滑。
Gōngsī juédìng cáiyuán bǎifēnzhī shí, yǐ yìngduì jīngjì xiàhuá.
The company decided to lay off ten percent of staff to cope with the economic downturn.
美贸易代表:关税裁决不影响中美贸易协议 也不影响特朗普访华
měi mào yì dài biǎo : guān shuì cái jué bù yǐng xiǎng zhōng měi mào yì xié yì yě bù yǐng xiǎng tè lǎng pǔ fǎng huá
U.S. Trade Representative: The tariff ruling will not affect the Sino-US trade agreement nor will it affect Trump's visit to China
加纳与多哥海疆分歧将国际仲裁
jiā nà yǔ duō gē hǎi jiāng fēn qí jiāng guó jì zhòng cái
Ghana and Togo will arbitrate internationally due to maritime disputes
泽连斯基:对白俄罗斯总统实施制裁!俄美乌三方会谈传..
zé lián sī jī duì bái é luó sī zǒng tǒng shí shī zhì cái ! é měi wū sān fāng huì tán chuán . .
Zelensky: Sanctions against the President of Belarus! Russia-US-Ukraine trilateral talks rumored...
泽连斯基称乌克兰对白俄罗斯总统实施制裁
zé lián sī jī chèn wū kè lán duì bái é luó sī zǒng tǒng shí shī zhì cái
Zelensky Says Ukraine Imposed Sanctions on Belarusian President
可怜的人民任凭残暴的独裁者处置。
Kělián de rénmín rènpíng cánbào de dúcáizhě chǔzhì.
The poor people were at the mercy of the cruel dictator.
在他的裁判下，真相终于大白。
Zài tā de cáipàn xià, zhēnxiàng zhōngyú dà bái.
The truth finally came out at his trial.
我提醒他要去会见总裁。
Wǒ tíxǐng tā yào qù huìjiàn zǒngcái.
I reminded him of his interview with the president.
丰田公司宣布将会在今年裁员一千人。
Fēngtián gōngsī xuānbù jiānghuì zài jīnnián cáiyuán yī qiān rén.
Toyota Corporation announced that it would cut 1,000 positions this year.
民主主义是多数选举的独裁。
Mínzhǔzhǔyì shì duōshù xuǎnjǔ de dúcái.
Democracy is the dictatorship of the majority.
Character Family
衤 Radical Family — Characters sharing the clothing radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 裁 (cái) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 裁 have?
What is the radical of 裁?
What are common words containing 裁?
What characters sound the same as 裁 (cái)?
Is 裁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 裁 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.