脆 (cuì): brittle, fragile, crisp

脆 (cuì) is a Chinese character meaning “brittle.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (structural) and 危 (structural). It ranks #1949 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 脆 something dangerous 危 to one's flesh ⺼. Its radical form 肉 (meat) appears in many related characters such as 肉 (ròu, meat), 能 (néng, can), 背 (bèi, the back of a body or object).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. brittle
  2. fragile
  3. crisp

Etymology & Origin

脆

ideographicSomething dangerous 危 to one's flesh ⺼

Decomposition: ⿰⺼危 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Practice writing 脆 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 脆

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
干脆adjective/adverbgān cuìcandid6
脆弱adjectivecuì ruòweak6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
干脆利落gān cuì lì luo(of speech or actions) direct and efficient
薄脆nounbáo cuìcrispy
清脆adjectiveqīng cuìsharp and clear
脆骨nouncuì gǔgristle
酥脆adjectivesū cuìcrisp (of food)
巧克力脆片qiǎo kè lì cuì piànchocolate chip
干脆利索gān cuì lì suosee 乾脆利落|干脆利落
发脆fā cuìto become brittle
脆片cuì piànchip
轻脆qīng cuìsharp and clear
脆谷乐proper-nouncuì gǔ lèCheerios (breakfast cereal)
脆皮nouncuì pícrispy skin (of food)
脆脆cuì cuìcrispy
脆爽cuì shuǎng(of food) crispy and tasty
爽脆adjectiveshuǎng cuìsharp and clear
17
Total compounds
41
As first character
41
As last character
18
As middle character

脆 appears in 17 compound words: 41 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 18 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 脆 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

饱bǎo
0.72531 co-occurrences
弱ruò
0.6458,679 co-occurrences
酥sū
0.625596 co-occurrences
麦mài
0.62432 co-occurrences
套tào
0.60738 co-occurrences
劳láo
0.55825 co-occurrences
著zhù
0.55610 co-occurrences
泽zé
0.55014 co-occurrences
餐cān
0.54944 co-occurrences
柳liǔ
0.53010 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个脆字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě cuì zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "脆" is related to its radical.

InvestingMar 2026

...ys上调美元/印度卢比目标价,因油价冲击脆弱性

. . . y s shàng diào měi yuán yìn dù 卢 bǐ mù biāo jià , yīn yóu jià chōng jī cuì ruò xìng

...ys raised its USD/INR target price due to the impact of oil prices on the currency's vulnerability

TvbsMar 2026

...女募资18万游南美 被骂到IG改不公开、脆认欠考量

. . . nǚ mù zī 1 8 wàn yóu nán měi bèi mà dào I G gǎi bù gōng kāi , cuì rèn qiàn kǎo liàng

...A woman raised 180,000 yuan to travel through South America; after facing backlash on Instagram, she switched her account to private and admitted she hadn't thought it through

NewtalkMar 2026

...国软肋?!陆媒大作文章:暴露中东反导部署脆弱性

. . . guó ruǎn 肋 ? ! lù méi dà zuò wén zhāng : bào lù zhōng dōng fǎn dǎo bù shǔ cuì ruò xìng

...China's Achilles' heel?! Chinese media make a big deal out of it: exposing the vulnerability of China's missile defense deployments in the Middle East

StheadlineFeb 2026

麦当劳2.23起推全新人气着数套餐 脆辣鸡腿饱餐首次加入 黄泽林首拍“老麦”广...

mài dāng láo 2 . 2 3 qǐ tuī quán xīn rén qì zhe shǔ tào cān cuì là jī tuǐ bǎo cān shǒu cì jiā rù huáng zé lín shǒu pāi lǎo mài guǎng . . .

McDonald's launched a new popular set meal from 2.23 Crispy and spicy chicken leg meal added for the first time Huang Zelin's first shot of "Lao Mai" Guang...

StheadlineFeb 2026

麦当劳全新人气着数套餐优惠!脆辣鸡腿饱餐减$10 麦乐鸡/麦炸鸡/猪柳...

mài dāng láo quán xīn rén qì zhe shǔ tào cān yōu huì ! cuì là jī tuǐ bǎo cān jiǎn 1 0 mài lè jī mài zhà jī zhū liǔ . . .

McDonald's new popular set meal discount! Crispy and spicy chicken thighs $10 off McNuggets / McNuggets / Pork Fillet...

Tatoeba

汤姆烤了些巧克力脆饼。

Tāngmǔ kǎo le xiē qiǎokèlì cuì bǐng.

Tom baked some chocolate chip cookies.

Tatoeba

我不知道该怎么回答,便干脆什么也不说。

Wǒ bù zhīdào gāi zěnme huídá, biàn gāncuì shénme yě bù shuō.

Not knowing what answer to make, I kept silent.

Tatoeba

他跟他们干脆地断绝来往了。

Tā gēn tāmen gāncuì de duànjué láiwǎng le.

He made a clean break with them.

Tatoeba

我们还是脆弱不堪。

Wǒmen háishi cuìruò bù kān.

We're still vulnerable.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced cuì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 脆 (cuì) mean in Chinese?
脆 (cuì) primarily means "brittle." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1949 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 脆 have?
脆 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 脆?
The radical associated with 脆 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.
What are the components of 脆?
脆 is composed of: ⺼ (structural), 危 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼危 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 脆?
Common words with 脆 include: 干脆 (gān cuì, "candid"); 脆弱 (cuì ruò, "weak"); 干脆利落 (gān cuì lì luo, "(of speech or actions) direct and efficient"); 薄脆 (báo cuì, "crispy"); 清脆 (qīng cuì, "sharp and clear"). There are over 17 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 脆 (cuì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cuì: 粹 (pure), 催 (to urge), 摧 (to break), 翠 (bluish-green). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 脆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 脆 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 脆 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.