萎 (wěi): to wither, to drop, to decline

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

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

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

Etymology & Origin

萎

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹委 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
萎缩verbwěi suōto wither
枯萎adjectivekū wěito wilt
萎靡adjectivewěi mǐlistless
萎靡不振phrasewěi mǐ bù zhèndispirited and listless (idiom)
哲人其萎zhé rén qí wěia wise man has passed away (idiom)
肌肉萎缩症nounjī ròu wěi suō zhèngmuscular dystrophy
阳萎verbyáng wěivariant of 陽痿|阳痿
枯萎病kū wěi bìngblight
萎叶wěi yèbetel
萎蕤nounwěi ruíangular Solomon's seal (Polygonatum odoratum)
颓萎tuí wěilistless
11
Total compounds
45
As first character
36
As last character
18
As middle character

萎 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 萎 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

缩suō
0.6712,230 co-occurrences
枯kū
0.6611,519 co-occurrences
凋diāo
0.590224 co-occurrences
肌jī
0.561908 co-occurrences
肉ròu
0.452448 co-occurrences
症zhèng
0.430423 co-occurrences
渐jiàn
0.404154 co-occurrences
髓suǐ
0.39840 co-occurrences
侧cè
0.396251 co-occurrences
逐zhú
0.381300 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

萎靡不振wěimǐbùzhèn

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

phrase
哲人其萎zhé rén qí wěiHSK 7+

a wise man has passed away (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了萎字的详细解释。

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萎缩吗

. . . 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萎缩吗

. . . 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萎缩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:人口萎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萎缩

. . . 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萎靡不振。

Táibì shàngzhǎng, zàochéng Táiwān de chūkǒu màoyì wěimǐbùzhèn.

The Taiwanese dollar appreciated, causing Taiwanese exports to slump.

Tatoeba

鲜花因缺水而枯萎

Xiānhuā yīn quēshuǐ ér kūwěi

The flowers withered for want of water.

Tatoeba

所有花园里的花朵都枯萎了。

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萎了。

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

The flowers in my garden have withered in the cold.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (plant) component

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, "listless"); 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: 为 (as (in the capacity of)), 位 (position, measure word), 维 (to maintain), 围 (to encircle), 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 萎 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.