涕 (tì): tears, nasal mucus
涕 (tì) is a Chinese character meaning “tears.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 弟 (phonetic). It ranks #2751 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 涕 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- tears
- nasal mucus
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鼻涕 | bí tì | nasal mucus |
| 痛哭流涕 | tòng kū liú tì | weeping bitter tears |
| 涕泣 | tì qì | to weep |
| 一把眼泪一把鼻涕 | yī bǎ yǎn lèi yī bǎ bí tì | with one's face covered in tears (idiom) |
| 破涕为笑 | pò tì wéi xiào | to turn tears into laughter (idiom) |
| 涕泪交流 | tì lèi jiāo liú | tears and mucus flowing profusely (idiom) |
| 感激涕零 | gǎn jī tì líng | to shed tears of gratitude (idiom) |
| 流鼻涕 | liú bí tì | to have a runny nose |
| 涕泗横流 | tì sì héng liú | tears and mucus flowing profusely |
| 鼻涕虫 | bí tì chóng | a slug |
| 拾人涕唾 | shí rén tì tuò | to plagiarize (idiom) |
| 涕泗纵横 | tì sì zòng héng | tears and mucus flowing profusely |
| 擤鼻涕 | xǐng bí tì | to blow one's nose |
| 涕零 | tì líng | to shed tears |
| 涕泗滂沱 | tì sì pāng tuó | a flood of tears and mucus |
涕 appears in 17 compound words: 41 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 24 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 涕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (8)
to shed tears of gratitude; to be overwhelmingly moved by another person's kindness
to turn from weeping to smiling, usually depicting a change in one's emotional state from being sad to being happy
to shed tears of gratitude; to be overwhelmingly moved by another person's kindness
to turn from weeping to smiling, usually depicting a change in one's emotional state from being sad to being happy
Example Sentences
这条涕流经三个省份，滋养了沿岸的农田。
zhè tiáo tì liú jīng sān gě shěng fèn , zī yǎng le yán àn de nóng tián .
This river flows through three provinces, nourishing the farmland along its banks.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 涕 (tì) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 涕 and 递?
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What characters sound the same as 涕 (tì)?
Is 涕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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