贴 (tiē): paste, subsidy

贴 (tiē) is a Chinese character meaning “paste, subsidy.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 贝 (semantic) and 占 (phonetic). It ranks #1445 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 贴 money. Its radical form 贝 (shell) appears in many related characters such as 贵 (guì, expensive), 负 (fù, to bear), 责 (zé, responsibility).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. paste, subsidy

Etymology & Origin

贴

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿰贝占 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 贴

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
补贴verb/nounbǔ tiēto subsidize6
贴近verb/adjectivetiē jìnto press close to6
粘贴verbzhān tiēto stick6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
体贴verbtǐ tiēconsiderate (of other people's needs)
贴心adjectivetiē xīnintimate
贴身adjectivetiē shēnworn next to the skin
津贴nounjīn tiēallowance
张贴verbzhāng tiēto post (a notice)
贴切adjectivetiē qièclose-fitting
紧贴verbjǐn tiēto stick close to
贴金verbtiē jīnto cover (a statue) with gold leaf
倒贴verbdào tiēto lose money instead of being paid (i.e. sb should pay me, but is actually taking my money)
贴画tiē huàpinup picture
体贴入微phrasetǐ tiē rù wēito show every possible consideration (idiom)
锅贴nounguō tiēfried dumpling
贴现nountiē xiàndiscount
贴边tiē biānwelt
招贴nounzhāo tiēposter
68
Total compounds
41
As first character
49
As last character
10
As middle character

贴 appears in 68 compound words: 41 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 10 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 贴 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

补bǔ
0.5714,049 co-occurrences
粘nián
0.550754 co-occurrences
纸zhǐ
0.494906 co-occurrences
津jīn
0.4913,431 co-occurrences
吧ba
0.479870 co-occurrences
紧jǐn
0.478866 co-occurrences
殊shū
0.4641,082 co-occurrences
张zhāng
0.4431,942 co-occurrences
拼pīn
0.414400 co-occurrences
丫yā
0.41482 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

体贴入微tǐtiērùwēiHSK 5+

to be extremely considerate towards someone; to be very considerate and thoughtful; to look after with meticulous care

phrase

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing 贴.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请把这张通知贴在公告栏上。

Qǐng bǎ zhè zhāng tōngzhī tiē zài gōnggào lán shang.

Please post this notice on the bulletin board.

LtnFeb 2026

江肇国批公务机关贴“马上有钱”春联很奇怪 今天有单位换掉了

jiāng zhào guó pī gōng wù jī guān tiē mǎ shàng yǒu qián chūn lián hěn qí guài jīn tiān yǒu dān wèi huàn diào le

Jiang Zhaoguo criticized the public agency for posting "money soon" Spring Festival couplets are very strange Today some units have been replaced

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

娱乐抢先看/始源8字贴文挺尹锡悦掀论战、逸祥探望山猪父母惹泪

yú lè qiǎng xiān kàn shǐ yuán 8 zì tiē wén tǐng 尹 xī yuè xiān lùn zhàn , yì xiáng tàn wàng shān zhū fù mǔ rě lèi

Entertainment sneak peek/Siyuan 8-word post supports Yin Xiyue's debate, and Yixiang's visit to the parents of the wild boar brings tears

Hk01.comFeb 2026

韩马利中山大宅跟北方煮锅贴过年 圈中老公杜燕歌系清朝皇族后裔

hán mǎ lì zhōng shān dà zhái gēn běi fāng zhǔ guō tiē guò nián juān zhōng lǎo gōng dù yān gē xì qīng cháo huáng zú hòu yì

Han Mali's Zhongshan mansion cooks potstickers in the north for the New Year, and her husband Du Yange in the circle is a descendant of the Qing Dynasty royal family

百度新闻Feb 2026

记者观察:食品贴上警示标签 智利欲全民瘦身?

jì zhě guàn chá shí pǐn tiē shǎng jǐng shì biāo qiān zhì lì yù quán mín shòu shēn ?

Reporter's observation: food labeled with a warning that Chile wants to slim down the whole population?

百度新闻Feb 2026

列国鉴|记者观察:食品贴上警示标签 智利欲全民瘦身..

liè guó jiàn jì zhě guàn chá shí pǐn tiē shǎng jǐng shì biāo qiān zhì lì yù quán mín shòu shēn . .

China's foreign policy: Chile wants to reduce the number of people in the country...

Tatoeba

把这张邮票贴在明信片上,然后投到邮箱里。

Bǎ zhè zhāng yóupiào tiē zài míngxìnpiàn shàng, ránhòu tóu dào yóuxiāng lǐ.

Put this stamp on the postcard and drop it in the mailbox.

Tatoeba

湿衣服贴着你的皮肤。

Shī yīfú tiē zhe nǐ de pífū.

Wet clothes stick to your skin.

Tatoeba

翻译跟原文很贴切。

Fānyì gēn yuánwén hěn tiēqiè.

The translation is quite true to the original.

Tatoeba

他把耳朵贴在门上听。

Tā bǎ ěrduo tiē zài mén shàng tīng.

He listened with his ear to the door.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 贝 (money) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced tiē

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 贴 (tiē) mean in Chinese?
贴 (tiē) primarily means "paste, subsidy." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1445 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 贴 and 点?
贴 (tiē) and 点 (diǎn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 贝 vs 灬 (same 占 component).
How many strokes does 贴 have?
贴 is written with 9 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 贴?
The radical associated with 贴 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are the components of 贴?
贴 is composed of: 贝 (semantic), 占 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰贝占 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 贴?
Common words with 贴 include: 体贴 (tǐ tiē, "considerate (of other people's needs)"); 贴心 (tiē xīn, "intimate"); 贴身 (tiē shēn, "worn next to the skin"); 津贴 (jīn tiē, "allowance"); 补贴 (bǔ tiē, "to subsidize"). There are over 68 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 贴 (tiē)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tiē: 铁 (iron), 帖 (fitting snugly). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 贴 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 贴 and the traditional form is 貼.

Practice writing 贴 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.