维 (wéi): to maintain
维 (wéi) is a Chinese character meaning “to maintain.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 隹 (phonetic). It ranks #520 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 维 thread. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 系 (xì, to connect), 累 (lèi, tired), 绍 (shào, to continue).
Definitions
- to maintain
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 维 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 维
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 维持verb | wéi chí | to keep | 5 |
| 维护verb | wéi hù | to defend | 6 |
| 思维noun/verb | sī wéi | (line of) thought | 5 |
| 维修verb | wéi xiū | maintenance (of equipment) | 5 |
| 维生素noun | wéi shēng sù | vitamin | 6 |
| 二维码noun | èr wéi mǎ | 2D barcode | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 戴维proper-noun | dài wéi | Davy |
| 纤维noun | xiān wéi | fiber |
| 维多利亚 | wéi duō lì yà | (name) Victoria |
| 戴维斯proper-noun | dài wéi sī | Davis or Davies (name) |
| 维也纳proper-noun | wéi yě nà | Vienna, capital of Austria |
| 恭维 | gōng wei | to compliment |
| 维吉尼亚 | wéi jí ní yà | Virginia, US state (Tw) |
| 维克托proper-noun | wéi kè tuō | Victor (name) |
| 维他命noun | wéi tā mìng | (loanword) vitamin |
| 维纳斯proper-noun | wéi nà sī | Venus (mythology, Roman goddess of love) |
| 玻利维亚proper-noun | bō lì wéi yà | Bolivia |
| 维吉尔 | wéi jí ěr | Virgil or Vergilius (70-19 BC), Roman poet and author of the Aeneid 埃涅阿斯紀|埃涅阿斯纪 |
| 维系verb | wéi xì | to maintain |
| 奥利维亚 | ào lì wéi yà | Olivia (name) |
| 纳什维尔proper-noun | nà shí wéi ěr | Nashville, capital of Tennessee |
维 appears in 104 compound words: 50 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 27 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 维 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (27)
Showing 12 of 27 idioms containing 维.
Example Sentences
维护客户关系是销售工作的重要部分。
Wéihù kèhù guānxi shì xiāoshòu gōngzuò de zhòngyào bùfen.
Maintaining customer relationships is an important part of sales work.
美财长:与贸易夥伴联系 各国盼维持既有关税协议
měi cái cháng : yǔ mào yì 夥 bàn lián xì gè guó pàn wéi chí jì yǒu guān shuì xié yì
U.S. Treasury Secretary: Liaising with trading partners Countries hope to maintain existing tariff agreements
米兰冬奥闭幕式今夜登场 冰雪盛宴落幕维罗纳
mǐ lán dōng ào bì mù shì jīn yè dēng chǎng bīng xuě shèng yàn luò mù wéi luó nà
The closing ceremony of the Milan Winter Olympics debuted tonight, and the ice and snow feast came to an end in Verona
...冰球观点/美国队如何断加拿大连霸梦?三个维度解读史诗对决
. . . bīng qiú guàn diǎn měi guó duì rú hé duàn jiā ná dà lián bà mèng ? sān gè wéi dù jiě dòu shǐ shī duì jué
... Ice hockey opinion/How does the U.S. team break Canada's dream of winning back-to-back championships? Interpret the epic showdown in three dimensions
新西兰联储将利率维持在2.25%不变,符合市场预期
xīn xī lán lián chǔ jiāng lì lǜ wéi chí zài . bù biàn , fú gě shì chǎng yù qī
New Zealand Fed leaves rates unchanged at 2.25%, in line with market expectations
中外交流|塞尔维亚举行系列新春庙会活动庆祝中国年
zhōng wài jiāo liú sāi ěr wéi yà jǔ háng xì liè xīn chūn miào huì huó dòng qìng zhù zhōng guó nián
Sino-Foreign Exchange|Serbia celebrates Chinese New Year with a series of Lunar New Year temple festivals
汤姆在拉斯维加斯里结婚了。
Tāngmǔ zài Lāsī Wéijiāsī lǐ jiéhūn le.
Tom got married in Las Vegas.
弗拉维奥走回了浴室。
Fú lā wéi ào zǒu huí le yùshì.
Flavio walked back inside the bathroom.
你会说维吾尔语吗？
Nǐ huì shuō Wéiwú'ěryǔ ma?
Can you speak Uyghur?
玛丽，你想学塞尔维亚语吗？
Mǎlì, nǐ xiǎng xué Sāi'ěrwéiyàyǔ ma?
Do you want to learn Serbian, Mary?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 纟 (thread) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 维 (wéi) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 维 and 准?
How many strokes does 维 have?
What is the radical of 维?
What are the components of 维?
What are common words containing 维?
What characters sound the same as 维 (wéi)?
Is 维 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 维 with real-time feedback
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