胁 (xié): flank (the side of one's torso), to coerce, to threaten

胁 (xié) is a Chinese character meaning “flank (the side of one's torso).” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (structural) and 办 (structural). It ranks #1485 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 胁 to control 办 another's body ⺼. Its radical form 肉 (meat) appears in many related characters such as 肉 (ròu, meat), 能 (néng, can), 背 (bèi, the back of a body or object).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. flank (the side of one's torso)
  2. to coerce
  3. to threaten

Etymology & Origin

胁

ideographicTo control 办 another's body ⺼

Decomposition: ⿰⺼办 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 胁

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
威胁verbwēi xiéto threaten5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
胁迫verbxié pòto coerce
胁持xié chíto hold under duress
军事威胁jūn shì wēi xiémilitary threat
胁从犯xié cóng fànaccomplice under duress
潜在威胁qián zài wēi xiépotential threat
迫胁pò xiéto coerce
红胁绣眼鸟hóng xié xiù yǎn niǎo(bird species of China) chestnut-flanked white-eye (Zosterops erythropleurus)
红胁蓝尾鸲hóng xié lán wěi qú(bird species of China) red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus)
胸胁xiōng xiéchest and hypochondrium
斑胁田鸡bān xié tián jī(bird species of China) band-bellied crake (Zapornia paykullii)
骈胁pián xiéfused ribs (physical deformity)
灰胁噪鹛huī xié zào méi(bird species of China) grey-sided laughingthrush (Pterorhinus caerulatus)
斑胁姬鹛bān xié jī méi(bird species of China) Himalayan cutia (Cutia nipalensis)
裹胁verbguǒ xiéto compel
褐胁雀鹛hè xié què méi(bird species of China) rusty-capped fulvetta (Schoeniparus dubius)
16
Total compounds
19
As first character
44
As last character
38
As middle character

胁 appears in 16 compound words: 19 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 38 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 胁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

威wēi
0.74433,670 co-occurrences
吓xià
0.480240 co-occurrences
漏lòu
0.45710 co-occurrences
迫pò
0.4452,386 co-occurrences
洞dòng
0.43410 co-occurrences
严yán
0.417890 co-occurrences
构gòu
0.3821,168 co-occurrences
骂mà
0.37864 co-occurrences
啸xiào
0.37568 co-occurrences
诱yòu
0.370112 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

胁字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

xié zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character "胁" is written is quite unique and has left a deep impression on me.

工商時報Feb 2026

...盟控美“多次违反贸易协议” 必要时将用反胁迫工具

. . . méng kòng měi duō cì wéi fǎn mào yì xié yì bì yāo shí jiāng yòng fǎn xié pò gōng jù

... The alliance accuses the United States of "repeatedly violating trade agreements" and will use anti-coercion tools if necessary

InvestingFeb 2026

湾流在特朗普关税威胁后获得加拿大认证

wān liú zài tè lǎng pǔ guān shuì wēi xié hòu huò dé jiā ná dà rèn zhèng

Gulfstream gets Canadian certification after Trump tariff threat

Investing 香港Feb 2026

川普关税威胁后 湾流获加拿大认证

chuān pǔ guān shuì wēi xié hòu wān liú huò jiā ná dà rèn zhèng

After Trump's tariff threat, Gulfstream was certified by Canada

StheadlineFeb 2026

马来西亚沙巴外海7.1级地震 无海啸威胁

mǎ lái xī yà shā bā wài hǎi 7 . 1 jí dì zhèn wú hǎi xiào wēi xié

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia, has no tsunami threat

It之家Feb 2026

...监管缺失的商业航天活动正成为大气污染新威胁

. . . jiān guǎn quē shī de shāng yè háng tiān huó dòng zhèng chéng wéi dà qì wū rǎn xīn wēi xié

... Commercial space activities without regulation are becoming a new threat to air pollution

Tatoeba

你这是在威胁我吗?

Nǐ zhè shì zài wēixié wǒ ma?

Are you threatening me?

Tatoeba

空气污染将会威胁我们的生存。

Kōngqìwūrǎn jiānghuì wēixié wǒmen de shēngcún.

Air pollution will be a threat to our survival.

Tatoeba

有人被胁迫要杀这个政治家。

Yǒurén bèi xiépò yào shā zhège zhèngzhìjiā.

Someone was coerced to kill the politician.

Tatoeba

我觉得我的名誉受到了威胁。

Wǒ juéde wǒ de míngyù shòudào le wēixié.

I felt that my honor was at stake.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xié

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 胁 (xié) mean in Chinese?
胁 (xié) primarily means "flank (the side of one's torso)." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1485 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 胁 have?
胁 is written with 8 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 胁?
The radical associated with 胁 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.
What are the components of 胁?
胁 is composed of: ⺼ (structural), 办 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼办 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 胁?
Common words with 胁 include: 威胁 (wēi xié, "to threaten"); 胁迫 (xié pò, "to coerce"); 胁持 (xié chí, "to hold under duress"); 军事威胁 (jūn shì wēi xié, "military threat"); 胁从犯 (xié cóng fàn, "accomplice under duress"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 胁 (xié)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xié: 些 (classifier indicating a small amount or small number greater than 1: some, a few, several), 写 (to write), 血 (blood), 谢 (to thank), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 胁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 胁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 胁 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.