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).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. tears
  2. nasal mucus

Etymology & Origin

涕

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵弟 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
鼻涕nounbí tìnasal mucus
痛哭流涕phrasetòng kū liú tìweeping bitter tears
涕泣verbtì qìto weep
一把眼泪一把鼻涕yī bǎ yǎn lèi yī bǎ bí tìwith one's face covered in tears (idiom)
破涕为笑phrasepò tì wéi xiàoto turn tears into laughter (idiom)
涕泪交加tì lèi jiāo jiā(idiom) weeping uncontrollably
涕泪交流tì lèi jiāo liútears and mucus flowing profusely (idiom)
感激涕零phrasegǎn jī tì língto shed tears of gratitude (idiom)
流鼻涕verbliú bí tìto have a runny nose
涕泗横流phrasetì sì héng liútears and mucus flowing profusely
鼻涕虫nounbí tì chónga slug
拾人涕唾shí rén tì tuòto plagiarize (idiom)
涕泗纵横tì sì zòng héngtears and mucus flowing profusely
擤鼻涕verbxǐng bí tìto blow one's nose
涕零verbtì língto shed tears
18
Total compounds
44
As first character
33
As last character
22
As middle character

涕 appears in 18 compound words: 44 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 22 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.

泣qì
0.665790 co-occurrences
鼻bí
0.643827 co-occurrences
哭kū
0.557410 co-occurrences
滴dī
0.543260 co-occurrences
唾tuò
0.50656 co-occurrences
嗽sòu
0.50244 co-occurrences
痛tòng
0.489362 co-occurrences
咽yān
0.47866 co-occurrences
呜wū
0.47522 co-occurrences
泪lèi
0.46256 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

感激涕零gǎnjītìlíngHSK 7+

to shed tears of gratitude; to be overwhelmingly moved by another person's kindness

phrase
破涕为笑pòtìwéixiàoHSK 7+

to turn from weeping to smiling, usually depicting a change in one's emotional state from being sad to being happy

phrase
拾人涕唾shí rén tì tuòHSK 7+

to plagiarize (idiom)

phrase
涕泪交加tì lèi jiāo jiāHSK 7+

(idiom) weeping uncontrollably

phrase
涕泪交流tì lèi jiāo liúHSK 7+

tears and mucus flowing profusely (idiom); weeping tragically

phrase
痛哭流涕tòngkūliútìHSK 7+

to cry one's eyes out

phrase
涕泗横流tìsì héngliúHSK 7+

tears and mucus coming out sideways; to weep uncontrollably

phrase
涕泗纵横tì sì zòng héngHSK 7+

tears and mucus flowing profusely; sniveling; in a tragic state

phrase
涕泗滂沱tìsìpāngtuóHSK 7+

to weep profusely

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

南阳市市民 张雅晴:最近天气转凉,昼夜温差大,我经常感觉嗓子干、嗓子痒,鼻塞流清涕。

nán yáng shì shì mín zhāng yǎ qíng : zuì jìn tiān qì zhuǎn liáng , zhòu yè wēn chā dà , wǒ jīng cháng gǎn jué sǎng zǐ gān , sǎng zǐ yǎng , bí sāi liú qīng tì .

Zhang Yaqing, a resident of Nanyang City: “The weather has turned cooler recently, and there’s a big difference between day and night temperatures. I often feel a dry, itchy throat, and I have a stuffy nose with a clear runny nose.”

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

回吸性涕血是鼻咽癌的主要信号之一。

huí xī xìng tì xiě shì bí yān ái de zhǔ yāo xìn hào zhī yī .

Retrograde epistaxis is one of the primary warning signs of nasopharyngeal cancer.

少数派Jul 2026

通气效果是有的,但鼻腔被鼻涕填满之后,你再怎么打开都没有意义了。

tōng qì xiào guǒ shì yǒu de , dàn bí qiāng bèi bí tì tián mǎn zhī hòu , nǐ zài zěn má dǎ kāi dōu méi yǒu yì yì le .

It does help clear your sinuses, but once your nasal passages are completely filled with mucus, it doesn't matter how much you try to clear them—it won't do any good.

少数派Apr 2026

黏液脓血便: 排出的大便中不仅有血,还混有像鼻涕一样的黏液,甚至黄白色的脓液。

nián yè 脓 xiě biàn : pái chū de dà biàn zhōng bù jǐn yǒu xiě , hái hùn yǒu xiàng bí tì yī yàng de nián yè , shèn zhì huáng bái sè de 脓 yè .

Mucus, pus, and blood in the stool: The stool contains not only blood but also mucus that resembles snot, and even yellowish-white pus.

少数派Apr 2026

除此之外,还有可能出现流鼻涕、鼻塞、咽痛等症状。

chú cǐ zhī wài , hái yǒu kě néng chū xiàn liú bí tì , bí sāi , yān tòng děng zhèng zhuàng .

In addition, symptoms such as a runny nose, nasal congestion, and a sore throat may also occur.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced tì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 涕 (tì) mean in Chinese?
涕 (tì) primarily means "tears." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2751 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 涕 and 递?
涕 (tì) and 递 (dì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 辶 (same 弟 component).
How many strokes does 涕 have?
涕 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 涕?
The radical associated with 涕 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 涕?
涕 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 弟 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵弟 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 涕?
Common words with 涕 include: 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)"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 涕 (tì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tì: 梯 (ladder, stairs), 剃 (to shave), 体 (body), 提 (to lift, to mention), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 涕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 涕 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 涕 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.