窃 (qiè): to steal, secretly, (humble) I
窃 (qiè) is a Chinese character meaning “to steal.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 穴 (semantic) and 切 (phonetic). It ranks #2067 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 窃 hole. Its radical form 穴 (cave) appears in many related characters such as 穿 (chuān, to wear, 穿透), 空 (kōng, empty, sky), 突 (tū, sudden).
Definitions
- to steal
- secretly
- (humble) I
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 窃 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 盗窃verb | dào qiè | to steal |
| 偷窃verb | tōu qiè | to steal |
| 窃听器noun | qiè tīng qì | tapping device |
| 窃听verb | qiè tīng | to eavesdrop |
| 失窃verb | shī qiè | to lose by theft |
| 窃取verb | qiè qǔ | to steal (usu. private information, intellectual property etc) |
| 剽窃verb | piāo qiè | to plunder |
| 窃贼noun | qiè zéi | thief |
| 窃笑verb | qiè xiào | to snigger |
| 扒窃verb | pá qiè | to steal |
| 窃密verb | qiè mì | to steal secret information |
| 惯窃noun | guàn qiè | habitual thief |
| 行窃verb | xíng qiè | to steal |
| 窃声 | qiè shēng | in a whisper |
| 身份盗窃noun | shēn fèn dào qiè | identity theft |
窃 appears in 29 compound words: 59 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 3 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 窃 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
我在字典里查到了窃字的详细解释。
wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le qiè zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .
I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "steal" in the dictionary.
...美法官驳回 xAI 指控 OpenAI 窃取商业机密的诉讼
. . . měi fǎ guān bó huí x A I zhǐ kòng O p e n A I qiè qǔ shāng yè jī mì de sù sòng
... A U.S. judge has dismissed xAI's lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets
牛池湾彩辉邨单位遭爆窃 失3只劳力士及珠宝现金 总值85万元
niú chí wān cǎi huī 邨 dān wèi zāo bào qiè shī 3 zhī láo lì shì jí zhū bǎo xiàn jīn zǒng zhí 8 5 wàn yuán
A unit in Choi Fai Estate, Ngau Chi Wan, was burglarized, and 3 Rolexes and jewelry were lost in cash with a total value of $850,000
Anthropic指控中国对手大规模窃取数据 吁行业与政府协力应对
A n t h r o p i c zhǐ kòng zhōng guó duì shǒu dà guī mó qiè qǔ shǔ jù xū háng yè yǔ zhèng fǔ xié lì yīng duì
Anthropic accuses Chinese adversaries of large-scale data theft and calls on industry and government to work together
Anthropic指控中国AI实验室窃取Claude数据
A n t h r o p i c zhǐ kòng zhōng guó A I shí yàn shì qiè qǔ C l a u d e shǔ jù
Anthropic accused Chinese AI labs of stealing Claude's data
日本大阪Brand Off遭窃! 歹徒破窗狂扫数十件贵金属奢侈品
rì běn dà 阪 B r a n d O f f zāo qiè ! dǎi tú pò chuāng kuáng sǎo shǔ shí jiàn guì jīn shǔ shē chǐ pǐn
Brand Off in Osaka, Japan was stolen! Gangsters broke windows and swept dozens of precious metal luxury goods
警察拘捕了这个窃贼。
Jǐngchá jūbǔ le zhège qièzéi.
The police officers arrested the burglar.
萨米因为偷窃被炒了鱿鱼。
Sà mǐ yīnwèi tōuqiè bèi chǎo le yóuyú.
Sami was fired from his job for stealing.
男孩们窃窃私语，我知道他们准备做些什么。
Nánháimen qièqiè-sīyǔ, wǒ zhīdào tāmen zhǔnbèi zuò xiē shénme.
The boys were whispering; I knew they were up to something.
我们走开的时候，房子被盗窃了。
Wǒmen zǒukāi de shíhou, fángzi bèi dàoqiè le.
Our house was robbed while we were away.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 穴 (hole) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 窃 (qiè) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 窃 and 沏?
How many strokes does 窃 have?
What is the radical of 窃?
What are the components of 窃?
What are common words containing 窃?
What characters sound the same as 窃 (qiè)?
Is 窃 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 窃 with real-time feedback
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