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

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

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

Native pronunciation
HSK 3Radical: horn13 strokesFrequency #201 structural

Definitions

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

Etymology & Origin

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

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

Components:structural

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbliǎo jiěto understand3
verbjiě shìexplanation4
verbjiě juéto solve3
verblǐ jiěto comprehend4
verb/nounwù jiěto misunderstand6
verbjiě fàngto liberate6
verbhuǎn jiěto bring relief5
verbjiě dúto decipher6
verbjiě dáto solve (a problem)6
verbjiǎng jiěto explain6
verbjiě shuōto explain (verbally)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiě gùto fire
jiě kāito untie
jiě chúto remove
jiě tuōto untie
hé jiěto settle (a dispute out of court)
jiě sànto dissolve
jiě pōuto dissect (an animal)
jiě jiùto rescue
biàn jiěto explain
fēn jiěto resolve
jiàn jiěopinion
jiě mìto declassify
xiè shùtalent
tiáo jiěto mediate
jiě dòngto melt
100
Total compounds
76
As first character
24
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 76 as the first character, 24 as the last, and 0 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.

xiáng
0.640116 co-occurrences
sàn
0.632192,864 co-occurrences
shì
0.619135,177 co-occurrences
fàng
0.604338,196 co-occurrences
pōu
0.60430,552 co-occurrences
jué
0.550156,496 co-occurrences
0.540105 co-occurrences
róng
0.51029,826 co-occurrences
huǎn
0.50523,334 co-occurrences
0.50249,884 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (22)

bǎisībùjiěHSK 3+

incomprehensible; perplexed still despite much thought

phrase
bǎi sī mò jiěHSK 7+

see 百思不解[bai3 si1 bu4 jie3]

phrase
bīngxiāowǎjiěHSK 7+

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

phrase
bùqiúshènjiěHSK 4+

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

phrase
dàhuòbùjiěHSK 6+

to be at a loss, confused

phrase
húnshēnxièshùHSK 7+

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

phrase
Jiěfàng ZhànzhēngHSK 5+

Chinese Communist Revolution

jiě jiǎ guī tiánHSK 6+

to remove armor and return to the farm; to return to civilian life

phrase
jiě líng xì língHSK 5+

see 解鈴還須繫鈴人|解铃还须系铃人[jie3 ling2 hai2 xu1 xi4 ling2 ren2]

phrase
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
jiěxī hánshùHSK 7+

analytic function

noun
jiěxī jǐhéHSK 5+

analytic geometry

noun

Showing 12 of 22 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个问题很难,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,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,锁触屏

nián chū shēng de nǎi nǎi , xiè suǒ chù bīng

Grandma, born in 1935, unlocks the touchscreen.

Tatoeba

死是唯一的脱吗?

Sǐ shì wéiyī de jiětuō ma?

Is death the only release?

Tatoeba

我怎么跟汤姆释?

Wǒ zěnme gēn Tāngmǔ jiěshì?

How do I explain that to Tom?

Tatoeba

你能开这个谜吗?

Nǐ néng jiěkāi zhège mí ma?

Can you solve this puzzle?

Tatoeba

汤姆要被雇了,不是吗?

Tāngmǔ yào bèi jiěgù le, bùshìma?

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

Character Family

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), undefined (phonetic). 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 100 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 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.