解 (jiě): to divide, to break up, to split, to separate, to dissolve, to solve

解 (jiě) is a Chinese character meaning “to divide.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 角 (structural), 刀 (structural) and 牛 (structural). It ranks #201 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 解 to cut 刀 the horns 角 off of an ox 牛; 角 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 角 (horn) appears in many related characters such as 角 (jiǎo, angle), 触 (chù, to touch).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to divide
  2. to break up
  3. to split
  4. to separate
  5. to dissolve
  6. to solve

Etymology & Origin

解

ideographicTo cut 刀 the horns 角 off of an ox 牛; 角 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰角⿱刀牛 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 解

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
了解verbliǎo jiěto understand3
解释verbjiě shìexplanation4
解决verbjiě juéto solve3
理解verblǐ jiěto comprehend4
误解verb/nounwù jiěto misunderstand6
解放verbjiě fàngto liberate6
缓解verbhuǎn jiěto bring relief5
解读verbjiě dúto decipher6
解答verbjiě dáto solve (a problem)6
讲解verbjiǎng jiěto explain6
解说verbjiě shuōto explain (verbally)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
解雇verbjiě gùto fire
解开verbjiě kāito untie
解除verbjiě chúto remove
解脱verbjiě tuōto untie
和解verbhé jiěto settle (a dispute out of court)
解散verbjiě sànto dissolve
解剖verbjiě pōuto dissect (an animal)
解救verbjiě jiùto rescue
辩解verbbiàn jiěto explain
破解verbpò jiěto break (a bond, constraint etc)
分解verbfēn jiěto resolve
见解nounjiàn jiěopinion
谅解verbliàng jiěto understand
解密verbjiě mìto declassify
瓦解verbwǎ jiěto collapse
107
Total compounds
55
As first character
42
As last character
3
As middle character

解 appears in 107 compound words: 55 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 3 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 解 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

散sàn
0.62364,288 co-occurrences
放fàng
0.595112,732 co-occurrences
剖pōu
0.59510,184 co-occurrences
释shì
0.59145,229 co-occurrences
详xiáng
0.563177 co-occurrences
决jué
0.50552,350 co-occurrences
溶róng
0.5039,942 co-occurrences
缓huǎn
0.4987,778 co-occurrences
除chú
0.47840,384 co-occurrences
析xī
0.47516,759 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (23)

百思不解bǎisībùjiěHSK 3+

incomprehensible; perplexed still despite much thought

phrase
百思莫解bǎi sī mò jiěHSK 7+

see 百思不解

phrase
冰消瓦解bīngxiāowǎjiěHSK 7+

to melt like ice and break like tiles; to disintegrate; to dissolve

phrase
不求甚解bùqiúshènjiěHSK 4+

to not seek deep understanding; to know things only on a superficial level

phrase
大惑不解dàhuòbùjiěHSK 6+

to be at a loss, confused

phrase
浑身解数húnshēnxièshùHSK 7+

all of one's skill; everything within one's power

phrase
解放战争Jiěfàng ZhànzhēngHSK 5+

Chinese Communist Revolution

解铃系铃jiě líng xì língHSK 5+

see 解鈴還須繫鈴人|解铃还须系铃人

phrase
解民倒悬jiě mín dào xuánHSK 7+

lit. to rescue the people from hanging upside down (idiom, from Mencius); to save the people from dire straits

phrase
解析函数jiěxī hánshùHSK 7+

analytic function

noun
解析几何jiěxī jǐhéHSK 5+

analytic geometry

noun
慷慨解囊kāngkǎijiěnángHSK 7+

to make generous donations; to contribute funds generously; to help someone generously with money

phrase

Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing 解.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个问题很难解,我已经思考了很久。

Zhè gè wèntí hěn nán jiě, wǒ yǐjīng sīkǎo le hěn jiǔ.

This problem is difficult to solve; I have been thinking about it for a long time.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

【中环解密】BLACKPINK官方YouTube...

zhōng huán jiě mì B L A C K P I N K guān fāng Y o u T u b e . . .

【Central Decryption】BLACKPINK Official YouTube...

百度新闻Feb 2026

茶香氤氲,温情暖暖~看阿婆爷叔如何解锁“行云流水”..

chá xiāng 氤 氲 , wēn qíng nuǎn nuǎn kàn ā pó yé shū rú hé jiě suǒ háng yún liú shuǐ . .

The tea is fragrant, warm and warm~ See how grandma and uncle unlock "flowing water":

百度新闻Feb 2026

7500人闹社火、品尝汉代美食,一起解锁新年最潮打..

rén nào shè huǒ pǐn cháng hàn dài měi shí , yī qǐ xiè suǒ xīn nián zuì cháo dǎ . .

7,500 people will be playing social fire, tasting Han Dynasty food, and unlocking the most trendy New Year's...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春跨境消费实现“丝滑”扫码,解锁人民币“走出去”..

xīn chūn kuà jìng xiāo fèi shí xiàn sī huá sǎo mǎ , xiè suǒ rén mín bì zǒu chū qù . .

The New Year's cross-border consumption to realize the "silky smooth" sweep code, unlocking the RMB "go out"...

百度新闻Feb 2026

1935年出生的奶奶,解锁触屏

nián chū shēng de nǎi nǎi , xiè suǒ chù bīng

Grandma, born in 1935, unlocks the touchscreen.

Tatoeba

死是唯一的解脱吗?

Sǐ shì wéiyī de jiětuō ma?

Is death the only release?

Tatoeba

我怎么跟汤姆解释?

Wǒ zěnme gēn Tāngmǔ jiěshì?

How do I explain that to Tom?

Tatoeba

你能解开这个谜吗?

Nǐ néng jiěkāi zhège mí ma?

Can you solve this puzzle?

Tatoeba

汤姆要被解雇了,不是吗?

Tāngmǔ yào bèi jiěgù le, bùshìma?

Tom is going to be fired, isn't he?

Character Family

角 Radical Family — Characters sharing the horn radical

Related Characters

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 解 (jiě) mean in Chinese?
解 (jiě) primarily means "to divide." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #201 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 解 and 下?
解 (jiě) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 解 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 解 have?
解 is written with 13 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 解?
The radical associated with 解 is 角 (horn). This radical appears in many characters related to horn.
What are the components of 解?
解 is composed of: 角 (structural), 刀 (structural), 牛 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰角⿱刀牛 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 解?
Common words with 解 include: 了解 (liǎo jiě, "to understand"); 解释 (jiě shì, "explanation"); 解决 (jiě jué, "to solve"); 理解 (lǐ jiě, "to comprehend"); 解雇 (jiě gù, "to fire"). There are over 107 compound words containing this character.
Is 解 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 解 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 解 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.