剔 (tī): to scrape the meat from bones, to pick (teeth etc), to weed out

剔 (tī) is a Chinese character meaning “to scrape the meat from bones.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 易 (phonetic) and 刂 (semantic). It ranks #2828 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 剔 knife. Its radical form 刂 (knife) appears in many related characters such as 分 (fēn, to divide), 别 (bié, to leave), 到 (dào, to reach).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to scrape the meat from bones
  2. to pick (teeth etc)
  3. to weed out

Etymology & Origin

剔

pictophoneticknife

Decomposition: ⿰易刂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
挑剔adjectivetiāo tipicky
剔除verbtī chúto reject
剔牙verbtī yáto pick one's teeth
没得挑剔méi dé tiāo tiexcellent in every respect
无可挑剔wú kě tiāo tiexcellent in every respect
挑毛剔刺儿tiāo máo tī cì rerhua variant of 挑毛剔刺
挑毛剔刺tiāo máo tī cìto find fault
剔透adjectivetī tòupure and limpid
玲珑剔透phraselíng lóng tī tòuexquisitely made
9
Total compounds
33
As first character
33
As last character
33
As middle character

剔 appears in 9 compound words: 33 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 33 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 剔 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

瘤liú
0.66410 co-occurrences
肌jī
0.56110 co-occurrences
弊bì
0.550352 co-occurrences
挑tiāo
0.5321,395 co-occurrences
除chú
0.5023,032 co-occurrences
奸jiān
0.495238 co-occurrences
莹yíng
0.45870 co-occurrences
抉jué
0.44938 co-occurrences
犀xī
0.43664 co-occurrences
拣jiǎn
0.43012 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

玲珑剔透línglóngtītòu

carved delicately and exquisitely; witty, clever, smart

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

剔字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

tī zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character "剔" is difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

BastillepostApr 2026

...子宫肌瘤病被劝切子宫 美国女深圳求医成功剔656颗肌瘤保住生育力

. . . zǐ gōng jī liú bìng bèi quàn qiē zǐ gōng měi guó nǚ shēn zhèn qiú yī chéng gōng tī 6 5 6 kē jī liú bǎo zhù shēng yù lì

...Diagnosed with uterine fibroids and advised to undergo a hysterectomy, an American woman successfully sought treatment in Shenzhen, where 656 fibroids were removed while preserving her fertility

Investing 香港Mar 2026

...首都机场(00694)再跌超4% 近期遭剔出港股通 小摩称约25%股份面临抛售压力

. . . shǒu dōu jī chǎng ( 0 0 6 9 4 ) zài diē chāo 4 jìn qī zāo tī chū gǎng gǔ tōng xiǎo mó chèn yuē 2 5 gǔ fèn miàn lín pāo shòu yā lì

...Capital Airport (00694) fell more than 4% again; recently removed from the Stock Connect program; JPMorgan says about 25% of its shares face selling pressure

99 健康网Feb 2026

...肌瘤怎么治最好?局限型比弥漫型更适合手术剔除吗

. . . jī liú zěn má zhì zuì hǎo ? jú xiàn xíng bǐ mí màn xíng gēng shì gě shǒu shù tī chú ma

... How to treat fibroids best? Is the localized type more suitable for surgical removal than the diffuse type?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...宫腺肌瘤目前最好的治疗方法是什么?腹腔镜剔除术后复发率高吗

. . . gōng xiàn jī liú mù qián zuì hǎo de zhì liáo fāng fǎ shì shén má ? fù qiāng jìng tī chú shù hòu fù fā lǜ gāo ma

... What is the best treatment for adenofibroids right now? Is the recurrence rate high after laparoscopic resection?

Tatoeba

他总是在挑剔别人的毛病。

Tā zǒngshì zài tiāoti biéren de máobìng.

He is always finding fault with others.

Tatoeba

我不挑剔,我什么都吃。

Wǒ bù tiāoti, wǒ shénme dōu chī.

I'm not picky. I'll eat anything.

Tatoeba

别挑剔这、挑剔那的,叫你怎么做就怎么做。

Bié tiāoti zhè, tiāoti nà de, jiào nǐ zěnme zuò jiù zěnme zuò.

Stop complaining and do as you're told.

Tatoeba

他对西装和领带的选择非常挑剔。

Tā duì xīzhuāng hé lǐngdài de xuǎnzé fēicháng tiāoti.

He's picky about suits and ties.

Tatoeba

不论你的胡子长了四年还是七年, 理发师用刀子剔的时间都是一样的。

Bù lùn nǐ de húzi cháng le sì nián háishi qī nián, lǐfàshī yòng dāozi tī de shíjiān dōu shì yīyàng de.

It doesn't matter whether your beard has grown for four years or seven. When the barber shaves it he'll use that same blade.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 刂 (knife) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced tī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 剔 (tī) mean in Chinese?
剔 (tī) primarily means "to scrape the meat from bones." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2828 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 剔 and 赐?
剔 (tī) and 赐 (cì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 刂 vs 贝 (same 易 component).
How many strokes does 剔 have?
剔 is written with 10 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 剔?
The radical associated with 剔 is 刂 (knife). This radical appears in many characters related to knife.
What are the components of 剔?
剔 is composed of: 易 (phonetic), 刂 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰易刂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 剔?
Common words with 剔 include: 挑剔 (tiāo ti, "picky"); 剔除 (tī chú, "to reject"); 剔牙 (tī yá, "to pick one's teeth"); 没得挑剔 (méi dé tiāo ti, "excellent in every respect"); 无可挑剔 (wú kě tiāo ti, "excellent in every respect"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 剔 (tī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tī: 踢 (to kick), 惕 (fearful), 体 (body), 提 (to lift, to mention), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 剔 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 剔 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 剔 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.