(): shoe, to tread on

() is a Chinese character meaning “shoe.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1785 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a person 尸 walking 彳; 復 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (corpse) appears in many related characters such as (céng, to pile on top of one another), (jǐn, to the greatest extent), (, (bound form) house).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. shoe
  2. to tread on

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA person 尸 walking 彳; 復 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿸尸復 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

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
verblǚ xíngto fulfill (one's obligations)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
lǚ lìbackground (academic and work)
西xī zhuāng gé lǚdressed in Western-style clothes
rú lǚ bó bīnglit. as if walking on thin ice (idiom)
bù lǚgait
lǚ lì biǎocurriculum vitae (CV)
bù lǚ wéi jiānto have difficulty walking (idiom)
lǚ yuēto keep a promise
lǚ dàicaterpillar track (propulsion system used on bulldozers etc)
lǚ yuē bǎo zhèng jīnperformance bond (international trade)
bàn lǚ dài chēhalf-track (vehicle with wheels at the front and continuous tracks in the rear)
guā tián bù nà lǚ , lǐ xià bù zhěng guānlit. don't tie your shoelaces in a melon patch, and don't adjust your hat under a plum tree (idiom)
lǚ lì piàncurriculum vitae (CV)
zhèng rén mǎi lǚlit. the person from Zheng 鄭|郑[Zheng4] who wanted to buy shoes (an allusion to an ancient story about somebody who, w...
lǚ xīn(of an official) to take up a new post
lǚ xì jiāo cuòlit. shoes and slippers muddled together (idiom)
28
Total compounds
43
As first character
36
As last character
21
As middle character

appears in 28 compound words: 43 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 21 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.

lǎn
0.5074,458 co-occurrences
0.49216,494 co-occurrences
shì
0.47829,130 co-occurrences
便biàn
0.46110,332 co-occurrences
kān
0.4451,494 co-occurrences
tuī
0.44312 co-occurrences
0.44120,700 co-occurrences
háng
0.43745,510 co-occurrences
xié
0.4321,270 co-occurrences
dài
0.4074,836 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

bùlǚwéijiānHSK 6+

to walk with great difficulty; to have difficulty walking

phrase
rúlǚbóbīngHSK 6+

in a careful manner; acting with extreme caution; like skating on thin ice

phrase
西xīzhuānggélǚHSK 6+

trendy in one's taste of clothing

phrase
xuēzúshìlǚHSK 7+

to force an impractical solution to a problem; to blindly apply

phrase
lǚxì jiāocuòHSK 6+

many guests and a lively atmosphere

phrase
zhāng fǔ jiàn lǚHSK 6+

court crown beneath straw shoe (idiom); everything turned upside down

phrase
bùlǚpánshānHSK 6+

walking unsteadily; staggering; limping; hobbling

phrase

Showing 7 of 9 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字的意思与它的部首有关。

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

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

中国军网Feb 2026

军队人大代表职尽责巡礼丨丰艳:推动部队资金保障更加精...

jūn duì rén dà dài biǎo lǚ zhí jǐn zé xún lǐ 丨 fēng yàn : tuī dòng bù duì zī jīn bǎo zhàng gēng jiā jīng . . .

Military people's congress deputies perform their duties and responsibilities on the tour丨Fengyan: Promote the financial security of the troops to be more refined...

中国军网Feb 2026

空军某旅帮助新任基层主官提升职能力

kōng jūn mǒu lǚ bāng zhù xīn rèn jī céng zhǔ guān tí shēng lǚ zhí néng lì

A brigade of the Air Force helped the new grassroots chief officer improve his ability to perform his duties

中国军网Feb 2026

军队政协委员职尽责巡礼丨全国政协委员付小兵:努力推进...

jūn duì zhèng xié wěi yuán lǚ zhí jǐn zé xún lǐ 丨 quán guó zhèng xié wěi yuán fù xiǎo bīng : nǔ lì tuī jìn . . .

Military CPPCC members perform their duties and perform their duties丨National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Fu Xiaobing: Strive to promote...

中時新聞網Feb 2026

川普国情咨文 翁中提5大观察指标:台湾应盯紧“这点”

chuān pǔ guó qíng zī wén wēng lǚ zhōng tí 5 dà guàn chá zhǐ biāo : tái wān yīng dīng jǐn zhè diǎn

Trump's State of the Union Address Weng Luzhong mentioned 5 major observation indicators: Taiwan should keep an eye on "this"

HypebeastFeb 2026

...nals 携手 SP5DER 推出全球鞋与服饰联乘系列

. . . n a l s xié shǒu S P 5 D E R tuī chū quán qiú xié lǚ yǔ fú shì lián chéng xì liè

... nals and SP5DER launch a global footwear and apparel collection

Tatoeba

我理所当然地认为他会行诺言。

Wǒ lǐsuǒdāngrán de rènwéi tā huì lǚxíng nuòyán.

I took it for granted that he would keep his word.

Tatoeba

军人必须行他们的命令。

Jūnrén bìxū lǚxíng tāmen de mìnglìng.

Soldiers must carry out their orders.

Tatoeba

我对自己的历不那么在意。

Wǒ duì zìjǐ de lǚlì bù nàme zàiyì.

I don't worry so much about my resume.

Tatoeba

行了他的承诺,并且帮助了他的兄弟。

Tā lǚxíng le tā de chéngnuò, bìngqiě bāngzhù le tā de xiōngdì.

He kept his promise and helped his brothers.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 履 (lǚ) mean in Chinese?
履 (lǚ) primarily means "shoe." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1785 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 履 have?
履 is written with 15 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 履?
The radical associated with 履 is 尸 (corpse). This radical appears in many characters related to corpse.
What are the components of 履?
履 is composed of: 尸 (structural), 復 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸尸復 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 履?
Common words with 履 include: 履行 (lǚ xíng, "to fulfill (one's obligations)"); 履历 (lǚ lì, "background (academic and work)"); 西装革履 (xī zhuāng gé lǚ, "dressed in Western-style clothes"); 如履薄冰 (rú lǚ bó bīng, "lit. as if walking on thin ice (idiom)"); 步履 (bù lǚ, "gait"). There are over 28 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 履 (lǚ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lǚ: 旅 (trip), 律 (law), 虑 (to think over), 率 ((bound form) ratio), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 履 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 履 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.