帝 (dì): emperor

帝 (dì) is a Chinese character meaning “emperor.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 立 (structural) and 巾 (structural). It ranks #612 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 帝 an altar on which a sacrifice is being made. Its radical form 巾 (cloth) appears in many related characters such as 师 (shī, teacher), 帮 (bāng, to help), 常 (cháng, always).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. emperor

Etymology & Origin

帝

pictographicAn altar on which a sacrifice is being made

Decomposition: ⿱立巾 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 帝

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
皇帝nounhuáng dìemperor6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
上帝proper-nounshàng dìGod
帝国noundì guóempire
大帝noundà dìheavenly emperor
帝王noundì wángregent
罗马帝国proper-nounluó mǎ dì guóRoman Empire
帝国主义noundì guó zhǔ yìimperialism
玉帝proper-nounyù dìthe Jade Emperor
帝位noundì wèiimperial throne
称帝verbchēng dìto declare oneself emperor
奥斯曼帝国proper-nounào sī màn dì guóOttoman Empire (1299–1922)
玉皇大帝proper-nounyù huáng dà dìJade Emperor
土皇帝nountǔ huáng dìlocal tyrant
东帝汶proper-noundōng dì wènTimor-Leste (East Timor)
第三帝国proper-noundì sān dì guóThird Reich, Nazi regime (1933-1945)
帝国理工学院dì guó lǐ gōng xué yuànImperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
100
Total compounds
23
As first character
43
As last character
34
As middle character

帝 appears in 100 compound words: 23 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 34 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 帝 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

皇huáng
0.695173,074 co-occurrences
灶zào
0.52813 co-occurrences
宗zōng
0.50534,560 co-occurrences
孝xiào
0.50213,018 co-occurrences
录lù
0.48518,714 co-occurrences
武wǔ
0.47733,018 co-occurrences
厦shà
0.46315 co-occurrences
勤qín
0.4637,816 co-occurrences
尤yóu
0.45410 co-occurrences
魏wèi
0.4539,198 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (14)

大韩帝国Dàhán DìguóHSK 7+

Korean Empire

大清帝国Dàqīng DìguóHSK 6+

the Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

大英帝国Dàyīng DìguóHSK 6+

the British Empire

帝国大厦Dìguó DàshàHSK 6+

Empire State Building

帝国主义dìguózhǔyìHSK 6+

imperialism

noun
第三帝国Dì-sān DìguóHSK 6+

Third Reich

胡天胡帝hú tiān hú dìHSK 6+

with all the majesty of an emperor (idiom); reckless; intemperate

phrase
罗马帝国Luómǎ DìguóHSK 7+

Roman Empire (an ancient empire based out of the city of Rome, covering vast territories in Europe, Asia and Africa)

末代皇帝mò dài huáng dìHSK 6+

The Last Emperor, 1987 biopic of Pu Yi 溥儀|溥仪 by Bernardo Bertolucci

phrase
秦始皇帝Qín ShǐhuángdìHSK 7+

Alternative name for 秦始皇 (Qín Shǐhuáng, “Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China”).

三皇五帝Sānhuáng WǔdìHSK 6+

the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors

史瓦帝尼ShǐwǎdìníHSK 7+

Eswatini (a country in Southern Africa, formerly called Swaziland)

Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing 帝.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

帝王之尊,九五之尊。

Dìwáng zhī zūn, jiǔ wǔ zhī zūn.

The emperor's dignity is supreme.

Am730Feb 2026

...里安納度「甜茶」大熱倒灶 英國演員爆冷封帝 《一戰再戰》成大贏家(附得獎名單)

. . . lǐ ān 納 dù tián chá dà 熱 dǎo zào yīng 國 yǎn 員 bào lěng fēng dì yī 戰 zài 戰 chéng dà 贏 jiā fù dé 獎 míng 單

Leonardo DiCaprio's "Sweet Tea" Fails to Deliver British Actor Upsets the Odds to Win Best Actor "The Battle at Badlands" Emerges as Big Winner (Includes Award List)

BusinesswireFeb 2026

帝國大廈推出史上第一個兒童生日派對套餐,讓...

dì 國 dà 廈 tuī chū shǐ shàng dì yī 個 兒 tóng shēng rì pài 對 tào cān , 讓 . . .

The Empire State Building has launched its first-ever children's birthday party package, allowing...

BusinesswireFeb 2026

帝国大厦推出史上首个儿童生日派对套餐,让您...

dì guó dà xià tuī chū shǐ shàng shǒu gè ér tóng shēng rì pài duì tào cān , ràng nín . . .

The Empire State Building introduces its first-ever children's birthday party package, allowing you to...

It之家Feb 2026

苹果宣发《帝王计划》电视剧创世界纪录:3000 架无...

píng guǒ xuān fā dì wáng jì huá diàn shì jù chuàng shì jiè jì lù jià wú . . .

Apple Sets World Record for 'The King's Plan' TV Series Promotion: 3,000 Drones...

StheadlineFeb 2026

TVB視帝黃宗澤晒童年照吸引4千萬人圍觀 6歲潮男...

視 dì 黃 zōng 澤 shài tóng nián zhào xī yǐn qiān 萬 rén 圍 觀 歲 cháo nán . . .

TVB star Wong Chung Chak's childhood photo attracts 40 million viewers, 6-year-old hipster...

Tatoeba

从来就没有什么救世主, 也不靠神仙皇帝!

Cónglái jiù méiyǒushénme Jiùshìzhǔ, yě bù kào shénxiān huángdì!

There has never been a savior nor an immortal emperor to rely on.

Tatoeba

根据圣经记载,上帝用6天创造了世界。

Gēnjù Shèngjīng jìzǎi, Shàngdì yòng 6 tiān chuàngzào le shìjiè.

According to the Bible, God made the world in six days.

Tatoeba

在空无一物的地方, 皇帝再大的权力也无用。

Zài kōng wú yī wù de dìfang, huángdì zài dà de quánlì yě wúyòng.

In an empty place, an emperor has no power.

Tatoeba

他们扩阔了帝国的领土。

Tāmen kuò kuò le dìguó de lǐngtǔ.

They increased the territory of the empire.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced dì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 帝 (dì) mean in Chinese?
帝 (dì) primarily means "emperor." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #612 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 帝 have?
帝 is written with 9 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 帝?
The radical associated with 帝 is 巾 (cloth). This radical appears in many characters related to cloth.
What are the components of 帝?
帝 is composed of: 立 (structural), 巾 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱立巾 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 帝?
Common words with 帝 include: 上帝 (shàng dì, "God"); 帝国 (dì guó, "empire"); 皇帝 (huáng dì, "emperor"); 大帝 (dà dì, "heavenly emperor"); 帝王 (dì wáng, "regent"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 帝 (dì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dì: 地 (earth, ground), 第 ((prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六 "sixth")), 低 (low), 敌 ((bound form) enemy), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 帝 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 帝 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 帝 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.