溺 (nì): to drown
溺 (nì) is a Chinese character meaning “to drown.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 弱 (phonetic). It ranks #3067 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 溺 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 河 (hé, river), 海 (hǎi, sea), 洋 (yáng, ocean).
Definitions
- to drown
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 溺 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 溺水 | nì shuǐ | to drown |
| 溺死 | nì sǐ | to drown |
| 沉溺 | chén nì | variant of 沉溺[chen2 ni4] |
| 溺爱 | nì ài | to spoil |
| 自溺 | zì nì | to drown oneself |
| 便溺 | biàn niào | to urinate or defecate |
| 溺职 | nì zhí | to neglect one's duty |
| 遇溺 | yù nì | (HK) to get into difficulties (in the sea or a swimming pool etc) |
| 溺亡 | nì wáng | to drown |
| 溺婴 | nì yīng | to drown a newborn baby (as method of infanticide) |
| 宠溺 | chǒng nì | to spoil |
| 耽溺 | dān nì | to indulge in |
溺 appears in 12 compound words: 50 as the first character, 50 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 溺 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
暴雨过后,溺水上涨,淹没了低洼的街道。
bào yǔ guò hòu , nì shuǐ shàng zhǎng , yān méi le dī wā de jiē dào .
After the heavy rain, the water level rose, flooding the low-lying streets.
...魂断异乡 49岁中国游客马来西亚下海游水溺毙
. . . hún duàn yì xiāng 4 9 suì zhōng guó yóu kè mǎ lái xī yà xià hǎi yóu shuǐ nì bì
... A 49-year-old Chinese tourist drowned in Malaysia
花莲鲤鱼潭9岁男童溺毙 纵管处:与地方政府共同强化管理
huā lián lǐ yú tán 9 suì nán tóng nì bì zòng guǎn chǔ : yǔ dì fāng zhèng fǔ gòng tóng qiáng huà guǎn lǐ
Hualien Liyutan 9-year-old boy drowned Longitudinal Management Office: Strengthen management with local governments
鱼潭翻船9岁童溺毙!傅崐萁:花莲无管辖权 轰中央卸责忙切...
yú tán fān chuán 9 suì tóng nì bì ! fù 崐 萁 : huā lián wú guǎn xiá quán hōng zhōng yāng xiè zé máng qiē . . .
A 9-year-old child drowned in a boat capsized in Yutan! Fu Kunqi: Hualien has no jurisdiction and is busy with the central government...
鲤鱼潭天鹅船翻覆9岁童溺毙!傅崐萁:花东出意外 中央只想切割
lǐ yú tán tiān é chuán fān fù 9 suì tóng nì bì ! fù 崐 萁 : huā dōng chū yì wài zhōng yāng zhī xiǎng qiē gē
The swan boat capsized in Liyu Lake and drowned a 9-year-old child! Fu Kunqi: Huadong had an accident and the center just wanted to cut
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 溺 (nì) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 溺 have?
What is the radical of 溺?
What are the components of 溺?
What are common words containing 溺?
Is 溺 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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