(wéi): to disobey, to violate, to separate

(wéi) is a Chinese character meaning “to disobey.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1180 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, walk. Its radical form (walk) appears in many related characters such as (biān, side), (guò, to pass, past), (hái, still, return).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to disobey
  2. to violate
  3. to separate

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶韦 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

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
verbwéi fǎnto violate (a law)5
verbwéi fǎillegal5
verbwéi guīto violate the rules6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wéi bèito go against
wéi kàngto disobey
wéi zhāngto break the rules
shì yǔ yuàn wéithings turn out contrary to the way one wishes (idiom)
wéi jìnto violate a prohibition or ban
wéi yuēto break a promise
wéi jìn pǐnprohibited goods
jiǔ wéi(haven't done sth) for a long time
wéi xīnfalse
wéi jìlack of discipline
wéi lìto break the rules
wéi fànto violate
wéi xiànunconstitutional
wéi yuē jīnpenalty (fee)
wéi fǎ luàn jìlit. to break the law and violate the rules (idiom)
57
Total compounds
79
As first character
12
As last character
9
As middle character

appears in 57 compound words: 79 as the first character, 12 as the last, and 9 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.

xián
0.63718,690 co-occurrences
yán
0.62124,276 co-occurrences
0.59439,228 co-occurrences
fǎn
0.58655,446 co-occurrences
guī
0.54120,842 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.5408,040 co-occurrences
jiǎo
0.5362,862 co-occurrences
bèi
0.51015,639 co-occurrences
0.50157,534 co-occurrences
chóng
0.47634,728 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

bùwéinóngshíHSK 5+

to not miss the farming season; to do farm work in the right season

phrase
shìyǔyuànwéiHSK 5+

to get the opposite of what one intended

phrase
wéi ēn fù yìHSK 7+

to disobey one's benefactor; to violate debts of gratitude; to repay good with evil

phrase
wéifǎluànjìHSK 5+

to break the law

phrase
wéi lì fù míngHSK 7+

to renounce profit and seek fame (idiom); to abandon greed for reputation; to choose fame over fortune

phrase
wéi qiáng líng ruòHSK 7+

to avoid the strong and attack the weak (idiom); to bully

phrase
wéi shí jué súHSK 5+

to defy the times and reject custom (idiom); in breach of current conventions

phrase
wéi tiān hài lǐHSK 5+

lit. violating heaven and reason (idiom); immoral character

phrase
wéi xīn zhī yánHSK 5+

false assertion; speech against one's own convictions

phrase
wéi xìn bèi yuēHSK 5+

in violation of contract and good faith

phrase
yángfèngyīnwéiHSK 6+

to comply in appearance but oppose in heart; to overtly agree but covertly oppose; double-dealing

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě wéi zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "违" carries different meanings in classical Chinese.

English News - RthkFeb 2026

会财局:去年规不算太多 强调监管质素要有底线

huì cái jú : qù nián wéi guī bù suàn tài duō qiáng diào jiān guǎn zhì sù yāo yǒu de xiàn

Bureau of Finance and Finance: There were not too many violations last year, emphasizing that there should be a bottom line for regulatory quality

InvestingFeb 2026

...要突破;美最高法院裁定特朗普政府关税政策

. . . yāo tū pò ; měi zuì gāo fǎ yuàn cái dìng tè lǎng pǔ zhèng fǔ guān shuì zhèng cè wéi fǎ

... to break through; The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration's tariff policy was illegal

JiemianFeb 2026

美国海关明起停止征收法关税,特朗普还有哪些替代方案?

měi guó hǎi guān míng qǐ tíng zhǐ zhēng shōu wéi fǎ guān shuì , tè lǎng pǔ hái yǒu nǎ xiē tì dài fāng àn ?

U.S. Customs will stop imposing illegal tariffs tomorrow, what alternatives does Trump have?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

川普关税被判法...南华早报:3月川习会 华府筹码更...

chuān pǔ guān shuì bèi pàn wéi fǎ . . . nán huá zǎo bào : 3 yuè chuān xí huì huá fǔ chóu mǎ gēng . . .

Trump tariffs found illegal... South China Morning Post: March Sichuan-Xi meeting Washington's chips are more...

LtnFeb 2026

川普对等关税被裁定宪 分析师:企业促退税需多年诉讼

chuān pǔ duì děng guān shuì bèi cái dìng wéi xiàn fēn xī shī : qǐ yè cù tuì shuì xū duō nián sù sòng

Trump's reciprocal tariffs were ruled unconstitutional Analyst: Companies need years of litigation to promote tax refunds

Tatoeba

携带武器是法的。

Xiédài wǔqì shì wéifǎ de.

It's against the law to carry weapons.

Tatoeba

汤姆一向反知识产权。

Tāngmǔ yīxiàng wéifǎn zhīshichǎnquán.

Tom always violates copyright laws.

Tatoeba

你知道这是法的,对吧?

Nǐ zhīdào zhè shì wéifǎ de, duì ba?

You know this is illegal, don't you?

Tatoeba

子瑞做的事法吗?

Zǐ ruì zuò de shì wéifǎ ma?

Was what Ziri was doing illegal?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced wéi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 违 (wéi) mean in Chinese?
违 (wéi) primarily means "to disobey." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1180 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 违 and 讳?
违 (wéi) and 讳 (huì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 辶 vs 讠 (same 韦 component).
How many strokes does 违 have?
违 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 违?
The radical associated with 违 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 违?
违 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 韦 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶韦 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 违?
Common words with 违 include: 违反 (wéi fǎn, "to violate (a law)"); 违法 (wéi fǎ, "illegal"); 违背 (wéi bèi, "to go against"); 违规 (wéi guī, "to violate the rules"); 违抗 (wéi kàng, "to disobey"). There are over 57 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 违 (wéi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wéi: 围 (to encircle), 伟 (big), 危 (danger), 微 (ancient Chinese state near present-day Chongqing), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 违 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 违 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.