(wèi): position, measure word

(wèi) is a Chinese character meaning “position, measure word.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #182 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, the place where a person 亻 stands 立. Its radical form (person) appears in many related characters such as (rén, person), (shén, what), (jīn, now).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. position, measure word

Etymology & Origin

ideographicThe place where a person 亻 stands 立

Decomposition: ⿰亻立 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
pronoungè wèieverybody4
nounwèi zhiposition5
zuò wèiseat4
nounzhí wèiposition6
noundì wèiposition5
verb/noundìng wèito orientate6
noundān wèiunit (of measure)4
verbwèi yúto be located at5
nounxué wèiacademic degree6
nounbù wèipart (esp. of the body, but also of a vegetable, e.g. the root, or a garment, e.g. the sleeve, etc)6
noungǎng wèia post6
nounfāng wèidirection6
nounchē wèiparking spot4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wèi ziplace
dào wèito get to the intended location
pǐn wèirank
wáng wèititle of king
xí wèia seat (in a theater, stadium etc)
kōng wèiempty place
chuáng wèibed (in hospital, hotel, train etc)
guī wèito put sth back where it belongs
cuò wèito be wrongly positioned
tān wèivendor's booth
ràng wèito abdicate
shuǐ wèiwater level
jià wèiprice level
huàn wèito swap places
fù wèito restore sb or sth to its original position
100
Total compounds
11
As first character
89
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 11 as the first character, 89 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

zhì
0.639883,775 co-occurrences
0.6181,743,240 co-occurrences
dān
0.589504,728 co-occurrences
0.505192,558 co-occurrences
0.496193,146 co-occurrences
shuò
0.47540,942 co-occurrences
0.472204,564 co-occurrences
shì
0.4491,156,158 co-occurrences
0.44214 co-occurrences
bǎo
0.437282,012 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

běnwèi huòbìHSK 5+

local currency; standard currency

noun
dìlǐ wèizhìHSK 5+

geographical location

noun
gèjiùgèwèiHSK 4+

each person performs their respective role or goes to their own place; on your marks!; take your position!

phrase
huànwèi sīkǎoHSK 3+

to put oneself in someone's shoes

phrase
róng yù xué wèiHSK 6+

honorary degree; (U.K. etc) honours degree

phrase
shīwèisùcānHSK 7+

hold one's position and live without doing anything

phrase
shí liù wèi yuánHSK 2+

16-bit (computing)

phrase
亿shí yì wèi yuánHSK 5+

gigabit

phrase
wèijírénchénHSK 6+

to have reached the highest official positions

phrase
WǔděngjuéwèiHSK 7+

the five ranks of Chinese aristocracy under the Zhou dynasty (周朝 (Zhōucháo)).

xū wèi yǐ dàiHSK 5+

to reserve a seat; to leave a position vacant

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

客户是我们的重要合作伙伴,需要好好接待。

Zhè wèi kèhù shì wǒmen de zhòngyào hézuò huǒbàn, xūyào hǎohao jiēdài.

This client is our important partner and needs to be well received.

百度新闻Feb 2026

忻州市房地产市场多项指标居全省首

忻 zhōu shì fáng dì chǎn shì chǎng duō xiàng zhǐ biāo jū quán shěng shǒu wèi

Xinzhou real estate market tops the province in a number of indicators

百度新闻Feb 2026

请停留3秒 为这5空军勇士献花!今天是万家团圆的..

qǐng tíng liú miǎo wéi zhè wèi kōng jūn yǒng shì xiàn huā ! jīn tiān shì mò jiā tuán yuán de . .

Please stay for 3 seconds to lay flowers for these 5 Air Force warriors! Today is the day of family reunion...

百度新闻Feb 2026

欧洲斯托克600指数触及新纪录高

ōu zhōu sī tuō kè zhǐ shǔ chù jí xīn jì lù gāo wèi

Europe's Stoxx 600 touches new record highs

百度新闻Feb 2026

...年收获满满,山东信息职业技术学院向合作单..

. . . nián shōu huò mǎn mǎn , shān dōng xìn xī zhí yè jì shù xué yuàn xiàng gě zuò shàn wèi . .

...A fruitful year, Shandong Information Vocational College extends its gratitude to partner institutions...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...里飘出就业香 海州乡土人才市集767个岗引才..

. . . lǐ piāo chū jiù yè xiāng hǎi zhōu xiāng tǔ rén cái shì jí gě gāng wèi yǐn cái . .

Job Opportunities Abound: Haizhou Local Talent Market Offers 767 Positions to Attract Professionals

Tatoeba

你认为他适合这个职吗?

Nǐ rènwéi tā shìhé zhège zhíwèi ma?

Do you think he is good for the position?

Tatoeba

求职者能胜任工作吗?

Nà wèi qiúzhízhě néng shèngrèn gōngzuò ma?

Does the applicant have suitable abilities to carry out the job?

Tatoeba

请问,这女士是什么人?

Qǐngwèn, zhèwèi nǚshì shì shénmerén?

Excuse me, who is this woman?

Tatoeba

女士是不是推销员?

Zhèwèi nǚshì shìbùshì tuīxiāoyuán?

Is this lady a saleswoman?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced wèi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 位 (wèi) mean in Chinese?
位 (wèi) primarily means "position, measure word." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #182 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 位 have?
位 is written with 7 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 位?
The radical associated with 位 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 位?
位 is composed of: 亻 (structural), 立 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻立 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 位?
Common words with 位 include: 各位 (gè wèi, "everybody"); 位置 (wèi zhi, "position"); 座位 (zuò wèi, "seat"); 职位 (zhí wèi, "position"); 位子 (wèi zi, "place"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 位 (wèi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wèi: 危 (danger), 微 (ancient Chinese state near present-day Chongqing), 围 (to encircle), 维 (to maintain), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 位 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 位 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.