蹄 (tí): hoof, pig's trotters

蹄 (tí) is a Chinese character meaning “hoof.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 足 (semantic) and 帝 (phonetic). It ranks #2895 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蹄 foot. Its radical form 足 (foot) appears in many related characters such as 足 (zú, foot), 跑 (pǎo, to run), 路 (lù, road).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hoof
  2. pig's trotters

Etymology & Origin

蹄

pictophoneticfoot

Decomposition: ⿰足帝 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蹄子tí zihoof
马不停蹄phrasemǎ bù tíng tíunrelenting
马蹄铁mǎ tí tiěhorseshoe
马蹄mǎ tíhorse's hoof
猪蹄nounzhū típig trotters
马蹄莲mǎ tí liáncalla
铁蹄nountiě tíiron hoof (of the oppressor)
马失前蹄mǎ shī qián tílit. the horse loses its front hooves
马蹄形mǎ tí xínghorseshoe shape
有蹄动物yǒu tí dòng wùungulates (animals with hooves)
人有失手,马有失蹄rén yǒu shī shǒu , mǎ yǒu shī tílit. just as humans make mistakes, so can a horse stumble (idiom)
奇蹄目jī tí mùPerissodactyla
马蹄星云mǎ tí xīng yúnOmega or Horseshoe Nebula M17
奇蹄类nounjī tí lèiPerissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates, such as horses, zebras etc)
偶蹄目ǒu tí mùArtiodactyla (even-toed ungulates, such as pigs, cows, giraffes etc)
22
Total compounds
18
As first character
32
As last character
50
As middle character

蹄 appears in 22 compound words: 18 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 50 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

马不停蹄mǎbùtíngtí

to be busy non-stop

phrase
马失前蹄mǎ shī qián tí

lit. the horse loses its front hooves; fig. sudden failure through miscalculation or inattentiveness

phrase

Example Sentences

IT之家Sep 2026

该模式提供多名可操作角色,包括《羊蹄山之魂》的笃、长门和雪,以及回归的境井仁。

gāi mó shì tí gōng duō míng kě cāo zuò jiǎo sè , bāo kuò yáng tí shān zhī hún de dǔ , cháng mén hé xuě , yǐ jí huí guī de jìng jǐng rén .

This mode features multiple playable characters, including Du, Nagato, and Yuki from *The Soul of Mount Yangtou*, as well as the returning Jin Kyoui.

少数派Aug 2026

兔子雷顿率领动物小队深入神秘的獭獭村,机械军团的铁蹄已悄然踏进这片宁静的水泽秘境。

tù zǐ léi dùn lǜ lǐng dòng wù xiǎo duì shēn rù shén mì de 獭 獭 cūn , jī xiè jūn tuán de tiě tí yǐ qiǎo rán tà jìn zhè piàn níng jìng de shuǐ zé mì jìng .

Led by Rabbit Layton, the animal squad ventured deep into the mysterious Otter Village, where the iron hooves of the Mechanical Legion had already quietly invaded this tranquil, hidden wetland paradise.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

姜片虫 藏身于菱角、荸荠(马蹄)、莲藕等水生植物表面。

jiāng piàn chóng zàng shēn yú 菱 jiǎo , 荸 荠 ( mǎ tí ) , lián ǒu děng shuǐ shēng zhí wù biǎo miàn .

The ginger fluke hides on the surfaces of aquatic plants such as water chestnuts, Chinese water chestnuts, and lotus roots.

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

结束本站征程后,帆船队将马不停蹄地投入接下来的赛事。

jié shù běn zhàn zhēng chéng hòu , fān chuán duì jiāng mǎ bù tíng tí dì tóu rù jiē xià lái de sài shì .

After completing their journey here, the sailing team will immediately move on to the next competition.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

...西问·马年说马丨赵艺博:海昏侯墓中的“马蹄金”缘何而来?

. . . xī wèn mǎ nián shuō mǎ 丨 zhào yì bó hǎi hūn 侯 mù zhōng de mǎ 蹄 jīn yuán hé ér lái ?

...West Question: The Year of the Horse | Zhao Yibo: How Did the "Horse-Hoof Gold" in the Tomb of the Marquis of Haihun Originate?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 足 (foot) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蹄 (tí) mean in Chinese?
蹄 (tí) primarily means "hoof." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2895 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 蹄 and 蒂?
蹄 (tí) and 蒂 (dì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 足 vs 艹 (same 帝 component).
How many strokes does 蹄 have?
蹄 is written with 16 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 蹄?
The radical associated with 蹄 is 足 (foot). This radical appears in many characters related to foot.
What are the components of 蹄?
蹄 is composed of: 足 (semantic), 帝 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰足帝 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蹄?
Common words with 蹄 include: 蹄子 (tí zi, "hoof"); 马不停蹄 (mǎ bù tíng tí, "unrelenting"); 马蹄铁 (mǎ tí tiě, "horseshoe"); 马蹄 (mǎ tí, "horse's hoof"); 猪蹄 (zhū tí, "pig trotters"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.
Is 蹄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蹄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蹄 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.