撇 (piē): to cast away, to fling aside, to throw

撇 (piē) is a Chinese character meaning “to cast away.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 敝 (phonetic). It ranks #2683 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 撇 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).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to cast away
  2. to fling aside
  3. to throw

Etymology & Origin

撇

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌敝 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
左撇子nounzuǒ piě zileft-hander
撇开verbpiē kāito disregard
撇下piē xiato cast away
八字还没一撇儿phrasebā zì hái méi yī piě rlit. there is not even the first stroke of the character 八 (idiom)
八字还没一撇phrasebā zì hái méi yī piělit. not even the first stroke of the character 八 has been written (idiom)
八字没一撇phrasebā zì méi yī piělit. there is not even the first stroke of the character 八 (idiom)
撇大条piě dà tiáo(slang) to take a dump
右撇子nounyòu piě ziright-hander
撇去piē qùskim
撇条verbpiě tiáo(slang) to go to the toilet
撇清piē qīngto say a matter has no relationship with the individual referred to, to emphasize one is innocent or in the clear
撇步nounpiě bù(Tw) trick (of the trade)
撇号nounpiě hàoapostrophe
撇掉piē diàoto skim froth or foam from the surface of a liquid
撇嘴verbpiě zuǐto curl one's lip
15
Total compounds
67
As first character
13
As last character
20
As middle character

撇 appears in 15 compound words: 67 as the first character, 13 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 撇 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

左zuǒ
0.5031,254 co-occurrences
竖shù
0.41234 co-occurrences
右yòu
0.408416 co-occurrences
子zǐ
0.3971,654 co-occurrences
折zhé
0.377114 co-occurrences
除chú
0.365370 co-occurrences
清qīng
0.362432 co-occurrences
仔zǐ
0.35998 co-occurrences
胡hú
0.343114 co-occurrences
横héng
0.33650 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他撇了一个电话,约朋友晚上一起吃饭。

tā piē le yī gě diàn huà , yāo péng yǒu wǎn shǎng yī qǐ chī fàn .

He made a phone call to arrange dinner with a friend that evening.

SmzdmMar 2026

撒撇!瑞丽本地人私藏的“灵魂蘸水”

sā piē ! ruì lí běn dì rén sī zàng de líng hún zhàn shuǐ

Check this out! The "ultimate dipping sauce" that locals in Ruili keep to themselves

TvbsMar 2026

...冷清!3天“星月共舞”绝美天象登场 观赏撇步曝

. . . lěng qīng ! 3 tiān xīng yuè gòng wǔ jué měi tiān xiàng dēng chǎng guàn shǎng piē bù pù

...Quiet! A stunning celestial spectacle—the "Dance of the Stars and Moon"—takes center stage for three days. Tips for viewing revealed

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

新潮流再传插手台湾建筑中心人士 刘世芳难撇瓜田李下

xīn cháo liú zài chuán chā shǒu tái wān jiàn zhù zhōng xīn rén shì liú shì fāng nán piē guā tián lǐ xià

The new trend is passed on again, and Liu Shifang, a person who intervenes in Taiwan's architectural center, is difficult to leave the melon field

StheadlineFeb 2026

阿Sa撇低男友欧游骑马应节 同容祖儿闯罗浮宫爆瘀...

ā S a piē dī nán yǒu ōu yóu qí mǎ yīng jié tóng róng zǔ ér chuǎng luó fú gōng bào 瘀 . . .

Ah Sa left her boyfriend Ou You riding a horse to celebrate the festival and broke into the Louvre with Joey Rong...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...闯古巴驳火4死!古巴控意图恐攻 鲁比欧急撇清

. . . chuǎng gǔ bā bó huǒ 4 sǐ ! gǔ bā kòng yì tú kǒng gōng lǔ bǐ ōu jí piē qīng

... 4 deaths in Cuba bargaining! Cuba accuses of terrorist attack, Rubio hurriedly clears up

Tatoeba

这把剪刀左右撇子都适用。

Zhè bǎ jiǎndāo zuǒyòu piē zǐ dōu shìyòng.

These scissors are suitable for left and right-handed people.

Tatoeba

撇开费用不说,建这座桥也会耗费不少的时间。

Piēkāi fèiyòng bù shuō, jiàn zhè zuò qiáo yě huì hàofèi bù shǎo de shíjiān.

Apart from the cost, it will take long to build the bridge.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 撇 (piē) mean in Chinese?
撇 (piē) primarily means "to cast away." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2683 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 撇 and 蔽?
撇 (piē) and 蔽 (bì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 艹 (same 敝 component).
How many strokes does 撇 have?
撇 is written with 14 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 撇?
The radical associated with 撇 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 撇?
撇 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 敝 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌敝 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 撇?
Common words with 撇 include: 左撇子 (zuǒ piě zi, "left-hander"); 撇开 (piē kāi, "to disregard"); 撇下 (piē xia, "to cast away"); 八字还没一撇儿 (bā zì hái méi yī piě r, "lit. there is not even the first stroke of the character 八 (idiom)"); 八字还没一撇 (bā zì hái méi yī piě, "lit. not even the first stroke of the character 八 has been written (idiom)"). There are over 15 compound words containing this character.
Is 撇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 撇 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 撇 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.