(dié): to spy

(dié) is a Chinese character meaning “to spy.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2317 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, speech. Its radical form (speech) appears in many related characters such as (rèn, to recognize, to admit), (, to remember, to record), (shí, to know, knowledge).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to spy

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠枼 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiàn diéspy
dié bàospy report
jiàn dié wǎngspy network
jiàn dié huó dòngespionage
fǎn jiàn diécounterintelligence
jiàn dié ruǎn jiànspyware
jiàn dié zuìcrime of spying
dié zhàn(movie genre) espionage thriller (typically involving Chinese agents opposing the Japanese in the 1930s and 40s)
dié zhàospy shot
tái diéTaiwan spy
10
Total compounds
30
As first character
30
As last character
40
As middle character

appears in 10 compound words: 30 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 40 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

tǒng
0.74410 co-occurrences
0.73610 co-occurrences
0.73610 co-occurrences
jiān
0.59123,386 co-occurrences
jiē
0.48510 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.45410 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.453114 co-occurrences
ruǎn
0.4491,002 co-occurrences
bào
0.4222,400 co-occurrences
zhàn
0.4133,090 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

活动危害国家安全。

Jiàndié huódòng wēihài guójiā ānquán.

Espionage activities endanger national security.

Am730Mar 2026

俄罗斯驱逐英国大使涉分裂及间行为 今年第2次

é luó sī qū zhú yīng guó dà shǐ shè fēn liè jí jiān dié háng wéi jīn nián dì 2 cì

LtnMar 2026

澎防部上士涉共案、中共藉宫庙吸收国军情搜 监院纠正政院...

péng fáng bù shàng shì shè gòng dié àn , zhōng gòng 藉 gōng miào xī shōu guó jūn qíng sōu jiān yuàn jiū zhèng zhèng yuàn . . .

Pingtung Defense Command Sergeant Major Implicated in Espionage Case; CCP Uses Temples to Recruit Nationalist Army Intelligence Officers; Control Yuan Issues Correction to Executive Yuan...

中時新聞網Feb 2026

航空公司前驻陆主管涉共判囚6月 高检署“这原因”不上诉

háng kōng gōng sī qián zhù lù zhǔ guǎn shè gòng dié pàn qiú 6 yuè gāo jiǎn shǔ zhè yuán yīn bù shàng sù

The former head of the airline stationed in mainland China was sentenced to prison for being involved in communist espionage in June, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate did not appeal for "this reason"

百度新闻Feb 2026

张艺谋谈间通过“垃圾桶交接加密手机”:国安同志说....

zhāng yì móu tán jiān dié tōng guò lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē jiā mì shǒu jī guó ān tóng zhì shuō . . . .

Zhang Yimou talked about spies through the "trash can handover encrypted cell phone": national security comrades said ....

百度新闻Feb 2026

张艺谋回应在电影《惊蛰无声》中“间在垃圾桶交接手..

zhāng yì móu huí yīng zài diàn yǐng jīng 蛰 mó shēng zhōng jiān dié zài lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē shǒu . .

Zhang Yimou responds to "spies exchanging hands in garbage cans" in the movie "The Sting is Silent...

Tatoeba

我突然想到他可能是个商业间

Wǒ tūrán xiǎngdào tā kěnéng shì gè shāngyè jiàndié.

It occurred to me that he might be an industrial spy.

Tatoeba

他们其中一人是间

Tāmen qízhōng yī rén shì jiàndié.

One of them is a spy.

Tatoeba

拿破仑时代的法国,魅力诱人的天才厨师摇身一变成为间

Nápòlún shídài de Fǎguó, mèilì yòurén de tiāncái chúshī yáoshēnyībiàn chéngwéi jiàndié.

A brilliant, seductive chef turns to espionage in Napoleon-era France.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced dié

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 谍 (dié) mean in Chinese?
谍 (dié) primarily means "to spy." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2317 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 谍 have?
谍 is written with 11 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 谍?
The radical associated with 谍 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 谍?
谍 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 枼 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠枼 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 谍?
Common words with 谍 include: 间谍 (jiàn dié, "spy"); 谍报 (dié bào, "spy report"); 间谍网 (jiàn dié wǎng, "spy network"); 间谍活动 (jiàn dié huó dòng, "espionage"); 反间谍 (fǎn jiàn dié, "counterintelligence"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 谍 (dié)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dié: 蝶 (butterfly (in 蝴蝶)), 爹 (dad), 跌 (to fall), 迭 (alternately), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 谍 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 谍 and the traditional form is 諜.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.