蜕 (tuì): skin cast off during molting, exuvia, to pupate

蜕 (tuì) is a Chinese character meaning “skin cast off during molting.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 虫 (structural) and 兑 (structural). It ranks #3553 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蜕 an insect 虫 changing 兑 its skin; 兑 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 虫 (insect) appears in many related characters such as 虫 (chóng, insect), 蛇 (shé, snake), 蛋 (dàn, egg).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. skin cast off during molting
  2. exuvia
  3. to pupate

Etymology & Origin

蜕

ideographicAn insect 虫 changing 兑 its skin; 兑 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰虫兑 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蜕变tuì biànto transform
蜕皮tuì pískin cast off during molting
蜕化变质tuì huà biàn zhì(idiom) to degenerate (morally)
蜕化tuì huà(of insects) to undergo metamorphosis
遗蜕yí tuìto shed skin
蜕壳tuì kéto exuviate
蝉蜕chán tuìcicada slough
7
Total compounds
71
As first character
29
As last character
0
As middle character

蜕 appears in 7 compound words: 71 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

战火与离乱使这个平凡女人一步步蜕变为守望家园的抗联女战士。

zhàn huǒ yǔ lí luàn shǐ zhè gè píng fán nǚ rén yī bù bù tuì biàn wéi shǒu wàng jiā yuán de kàng lián nǚ zhàn shì .

Amid the ravages of war and upheaval, this ordinary woman gradually transformed into a female Anti-Japanese United Army soldier who stood guard over her homeland.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

诸多政策让大众的表达不再是自娱自乐,民间灵感更有机会蜕变为优质公共文化产品。

zhū duō zhèng cè ràng dà zhòng de biǎo dá bù zài shì zì yú zì lè , mín jiān líng gǎn gèng yǒu jī huì tuì biàn wéi yōu zhì gōng gòng wén huà chǎn pǐn .

Thanks to a variety of policies, public expression is no longer merely a form of self-entertainment; grassroots creativity now has greater opportunities to evolve into high-quality public cultural products.

爱范儿Aug 2026

计算机 70 年历史,从一间房蜕变成家用电器甚至演化成每个人的囊中之物。

jì suàn jī 7 0 nián lì shǐ , cóng yī jiān fáng tuì biàn chéng jiā yòng diàn qì shèn zhì yǎn huà chéng měi gè rén de náng zhōng zhī wù .

Over the course of its 70-year history, the computer has evolved from a machine that filled an entire room to a household appliance—and has even become something everyone can afford.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

自2005年丁俊晖在中国公开赛摘得生涯首个排名赛冠军后,斯诺克运动在中国迎来蜕变。

zì 2 0 0 5 nián dīng jùn huī zài zhōng guó gōng kāi sài zhāi dé shēng yá shǒu gè pái míng sài guàn jūn hòu , sī nuò kè yùn dòng zài zhōng guó yíng lái tuì biàn .

Since Ding Junhui won his first ranking title at the 2005 China Open, the sport of snooker has undergone a transformation in China.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

记者 何浠 摄 从居家熬夜,到出门运动解压,成都年轻人的夜间生活方式实现正向蜕变。

jì zhě hé 浠 shè cóng jū jiā áo yè , dào chū mén yùn dòng jiě yā , chéng dōu nián qīng rén de yè jiān shēng huó fāng shì shí xiàn zhèng xiàng tuì biàn .

Photo by He Xi. From staying up late at home to going out to exercise and relieve stress, the nightlife of Chengdu’s young people has undergone a positive transformation.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蜕 (tuì) mean in Chinese?
蜕 (tuì) primarily means "skin cast off during molting." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3553 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 蜕 have?
蜕 is written with 13 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 蜕?
The radical associated with 蜕 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 蜕?
蜕 is composed of: 虫 (structural), 兑 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰虫兑 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蜕?
Common words with 蜕 include: 蜕变 (tuì biàn, "to transform"); 蜕皮 (tuì pí, "skin cast off during molting"); 蜕化变质 (tuì huà biàn zhì, "(idiom) to degenerate (morally)"); 蜕化 (tuì huà, "(of insects) to undergo metamorphosis"); 遗蜕 (yí tuì, "to shed skin"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
Is 蜕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 蜕 and the traditional form is 蛻.

Practice writing 蜕 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.