锲 (qiè): to cut

锲 (qiè) is a Chinese character meaning “to cut.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (structural) and 契 (structural). It ranks #3132 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 锲 something engraved 契 in metal 钅; 契 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 金 (jīn, metal, gold), 钱 (qián, money), 银 (yín, silver, bank).

Spoken pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 钅 metal14 strokesFrequency #3132钅 structural契 structural

Definitions

  1. to cut

Etymology & Origin

锲

ideographicSomething engraved 契 in metal 钅; 契 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰钅契 (layout: left-right)

Components:钅structural契structural

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
锲而不舍phraseqiè ér bù shěto chip away at a task and not abandon it (idiom)
1
Total compounds
100
As first character
0
As last character
0
As middle character

锲 appears in 1 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 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 锲 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

舍shě
0.49056 co-occurrences
而ér
0.34464 co-occurrences
形xíng
0.33022 co-occurrences
体tǐ
0.32218 co-occurrences
不bù
0.31956 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

锲而不舍qiè'érbùshěHSK 7+

to persevere; to continue doing something in a determined way and not give up

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

锲字的写法很特别，让我印象深刻。

qiè zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character "锲" is written is quite unique, and it really left a lasting impression on me.

Character Family

钅 Radical Family — Characters sharing the metal radical

金jīn错cuò钱qián钟zhōng银yín铁tiě针zhēn钢gāng铜tóng钉dīng

Related Characters

金jīn钱qián银yín铁tiě钢gāng铜tóng钟zhōng针zhēn错cuò钉dīng

Homophones — Characters pronounced qiè

茄qié

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 锲 (qiè) mean in Chinese?
锲 (qiè) primarily means "to cut." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3132 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 锲 have?
锲 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 锲?
The radical associated with 锲 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 锲?
锲 is composed of: 钅 (structural), 契 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅契 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 锲?
Common words with 锲 include: 锲而不舍 (qiè ér bù shě, "to chip away at a task and not abandon it (idiom)"). There are over 1 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 锲 (qiè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qiè: 茄 (eggplant). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 锲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 锲 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 锲 with real-time feedback

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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.