(wěi): to wither, to drop, to decline

(wěi) is a Chinese character meaning “to wither.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2606 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, plant. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (huā, flower), (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to wither
  2. to drop
  3. to decline

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹委 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wěi suōto wither
kū wěito wilt
wěi mǐdispirited
wěi mǐ bù zhèndispirited and listless (idiom)
zhé rén qí wěia wise man has passed away (idiom)
jī ròu wěi suō zhèngmuscular dystrophy
yáng wěivariant of 陽痿|阳痿[yang2 wei3]
kū wěi bìngblight
wěi yèbetel
wěi ruíangular Solomon's seal (Polygonatum odoratum)
tuí wěilistless
11
Total compounds
45
As first character
36
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 11 compound words: 45 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 18 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.

0.7204,551 co-occurrences
suō
0.6576,613 co-occurrences
diāo
0.599672 co-occurrences
0.5972,700 co-occurrences
ròu
0.4591,344 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.4451,248 co-occurrences
suǐ
0.404120 co-occurrences
jiān
0.402450 co-occurrences
0.387744 co-occurrences
zhú
0.387900 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

zhé rén qí wěiHSK 7+

a wise man has passed away (idiom)

phrase
wěimǐbùzhènHSK 7+

to be in low spirits; to be lethargic-looking; out of sorts

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le wěi zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "萎" in the dictionary.

99 健康网Mar 2026

...子宫下垂的治疗有哪些?雌激素软膏改善阴道缩吗

. . . zǐ gōng xià chuí de zhì liáo yǒu nǎ xiē ? cí jī sù ruǎn gāo gǎi shàn yīn dào wěi suō ma

... What are the treatments for uterine ptosis? Does estrogen ointment improve vaginal atrophy?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...症吃什么药能消掉?孕激素类药物真能让病灶缩吗

. . . zhèng chī shén má yào néng xiāo diào ? yùn jī sù lèi yào wù zhēn néng ràng bìng zào wěi suō ma

... What medicine can be taken to eliminate the symptoms? Can progestin drugs really shrink lesions?

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...场研究:晶片短缺 料全球智能手机市场今年缩13%

. . . chǎng yán jiū : jīng piàn duǎn quē liào quán qiú zhì néng shǒu jī shì chǎng jīn nián wěi suō 1 3

... Field study: Chip shortage global smartphone market expected to shrink by 13% this year

RfiFeb 2026

日本出生人数连10年下滑 日相:人口缩是无声国家紧急状态

rì běn chū shēng rén shǔ lián 1 0 nián xià huá rì xiāng : rén kǒu wěi suō shì wú shēng guó jiā jǐn jí zhuàng tài

The number of births in Japan has declined for 10 consecutive years Japan: Population shrinkage is a silent national emergency

99 健康网Feb 2026

...根手指都疼是怎么回事?是不是长期不用导致

. . . gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? shì bù shì cháng qī bù yòng dǎo zhì wěi suō

... What's going on with a finger that hurts? Is it not necessary to cause atrophy in the long term?

Tatoeba

台币上涨,造成台湾的出口贸易靡不振。

Táibì shàngzhǎng, zàochéng Táiwān de chūkǒu màoyì wěimǐbùzhèn.

The Taiwanese dollar appreciated, causing Taiwanese exports to slump.

Tatoeba

鲜花因缺水而枯

Xiānhuā yīn quēshuǐ ér kūwěi

The flowers withered for want of water.

Tatoeba

所有花园里的花朵都枯了。

Suǒyǒu huāyuán lǐ de huāduǒ dōu kūwěi le.

All the flowers in the garden withered.

Tatoeba

我花园里的花在寒冷的天气下枯了。

Wǒ huāyuán lǐ de huā zài hánlěng de tiānqì xià kūwěi le.

The flowers in my garden have withered in the cold.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced wěi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 萎 (wěi) mean in Chinese?
萎 (wěi) primarily means "to wither." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2606 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 萎 and 矮?
萎 (wěi) and 矮 (ǎi) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 矢 (same 委 component).
How many strokes does 萎 have?
萎 is written with 11 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 萎?
The radical associated with 萎 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 萎?
萎 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 委 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹委 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 萎?
Common words with 萎 include: 萎缩 (wěi suō, "to wither"); 枯萎 (kū wěi, "to wilt"); 萎靡 (wěi mǐ, "dispirited"); 萎靡不振 (wěi mǐ bù zhèn, "dispirited and listless (idiom)"); 哲人其萎 (zhé rén qí wěi, "a wise man has passed away (idiom)"). There are over 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 萎 (wěi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wěi: 危 (danger), 微 (ancient Chinese state near present-day Chongqing), 围 (to encircle), 维 (to maintain), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 萎 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 萎 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.