捏 (niē): to hold between the thumb and fingers, to pinch, to mold (using the fingers)
捏 (niē) is a Chinese character meaning “to hold between the thumb and fingers.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 圼 (phonetic). It ranks #2388 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 捏 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to hold between the thumb and fingers
- to pinch
- to mold (using the fingers)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 捏 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 捏造 | niē zào | to make up |
| 扭扭捏捏 | niǔ niǔ niē niē | affecting shyness or embarrassment |
| 凭空捏造 | píng kōng niē zào | fabrication relying on nothing (idiom) |
| 捏一把汗 | niē yī bǎ hàn | to break out into a cold sweat (idiom) |
| 捏合 | niē hé | to act as a go between |
| 捏一把冷汗 | niē yī bǎ lěng hàn | to break out into a cold sweat (idiom) |
| 柿子挑软的捏 | shì zi tiāo ruǎn de niē | lit. it's the soft persimmons that people choose to squeeze (idiom) |
| 拿捏 | ná niē | (lit. and fig.) to grasp |
| 捏脊治疗 | niē jǐ zhì liáo | chiropractic (medicine) |
| 捏积 | niē jī | see 捏脊[nie1 ji3] |
| 砌词捏控 | qì cí niē kòng | to make an accusation based on fabricated evidence (idiom) |
| 捏估 | niē gu | to act as a go-between |
| 捏碎 | niē suì | to crush (sth) in one's hand |
| 扭捏 | niǔ nie | affecting shyness or embarrassment |
| 捏脊 | niē jǐ | form of therapeutic massage, mainly for children, in which a roll of skin is squeezed, working from the base of the s... |
捏 appears in 15 compound words: 60 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 20 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 捏 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
他捏起袖子，开始认真地打扫房间。
tā niē qǐ xiù zǐ , kāi shǐ rèn zhēn dì dǎ sǎo fáng jiān .
He rolled up his sleeves and began cleaning the room thoroughly.
...因为你少了这份秘籍!掌握系别克制,轻松拿捏精灵对战!小洛克,这是你正式迈向王国魔法...
. . . yīn wéi nǐ shǎo le zhè fèn mì jí ! zhǎng wò xì bié kè zhì , qīng sōng ná niē jīng líng duì zhàn ! xiǎo Luò kè , zhè shì nǐ zhèng shì mài xiàng wáng guó mó fǎ . . .
幼儿园老师捏裂孩子耳朵 当地教育局通报
yòu ér yuán lǎo shī niē liè hái zǐ ěr duǒ dāng dì jiào yù jú tōng bào
“真的不要闹耶!”长辈喊捏婴鼻子才会挺
zhēn de bù yāo nào 耶 ! cháng bèi hǎn niē yīng bí zǐ cái huì tǐng
“Seriously, stop messing around!” The older person shouted, pinching the baby’s nose to make it stick up.
汤姆捏了玛丽的手。
Tāngmǔ niē le Mǎlì de shǒu.
Tom squeezed Mary's hand.
她虚弱的样子让我捏了一把汗。
Tā xūruò de yàngzi ràng wǒ niē le yī bǎ hàn.
It worried me that she looked pale.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 捏 (niē) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 捏 have?
What is the radical of 捏?
What are the components of 捏?
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Is 捏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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