斜 (xié): inclined, slanting, oblique

斜 (xié) is a Chinese character meaning “inclined.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 余 (phonetic) and 斗 (semantic). It ranks #1769 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 斜 measuring cup. Its radical form 斗 (dipper) appears in many related characters such as 斗 (dǒu, dry measure for grain equal to ten 升 or one-tenth of a 石), 料 (liào, material).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. inclined
  2. slanting
  3. oblique

Etymology & Origin

斜

pictophoneticmeasuring cup

Decomposition: ⿰余斗 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
倾斜verbqīng xiéto incline
斜坡nounxié pōslope
斜眼nounxié yǎnto look askance
斜视verbxié shìa squint
斜线nounxié xiànoblique line
斜纹nounxié wén(textiles) twill
倾斜度qīng xié dùinclination (from the horizontal or vertical)
斜面nounxié miàninclined plane
斜边nounxié biānsloping side
斜塔xié tǎleaning tower
斜角nounxié jiǎobevel angle
斜阳nounxié yángsetting sun
斜度nounxié dùslope
歪歪斜斜adjectivewāi wāi xié xiéshuddering
歪斜adjectivewāi xiécrooked
60
Total compounds
63
As first character
22
As last character
15
As middle character

斜 appears in 60 compound words: 63 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 15 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 斜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

倾qīng
0.6486,541 co-occurrences
坡pō
0.5575,920 co-occurrences
挎kuà
0.52978 co-occurrences
杠gàng
0.511260 co-occurrences
歪wāi
0.505502 co-occurrences
陡dǒu
0.480430 co-occurrences
向xiàng
0.4488,422 co-occurrences
峭qiào
0.441246 co-occurrences
桥qiáo
0.4282,044 co-occurrences
躺tǎng
0.40672 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

比萨斜塔Bǐsà XiétǎHSK 7+

the Leaning Tower of Pisa

口眼歪斜kǒu yǎn wāi xiéHSK 6+

facial nerve paralysis

phrase
目不斜视mùbùxiéshìHSK 5+

to look straight ahead without casting any sidelong glances

phrase
歪歪斜斜wāiwāixiéxiéHSK 6+

not upright; leaning in different directions

adjective

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座塔有点倾斜,需要加固维修。

Zhè zuò tǎ yǒudiǎn qīngxié, xūyào jiāgù wéixiū.

This tower is somewhat tilted and needs reinforcement and repair.

三立新聞網Mar 2026

郭正亮直播眼歪嘴斜 医揭“面瘫” 5前兆

guō zhèng liàng zhí bō yǎn wāi zuǐ xié yī jiē miàn tān 5 qián zhào

Guo Zhengliang Appears with a Lopsided Face During Live Stream; Doctor Reveals 5 Early Signs of "Facial Paralysis"

三立新聞網Mar 2026

动物之神护毛孩 竟是医神大斜杠

dòng wù zhī shén hù máo hái jìng shì yī shén dà xié gàng

The God of Animals Protects Pets—Turns Out He’s Also the God of Medicine

三立新聞網Mar 2026

柏油路没干酿公车下陷!车歪斜秒吓坏司机

bǎi yóu lù méi gān niàng gōng chē xià xiàn ! chē wāi xié miǎo hè huài sī jī

Uncured asphalt causes bus to sink! The vehicle tilted, instantly terrifying the driver

三立新聞網Mar 2026

曾连套房都租不起?女师斜杠月入四万八!

céng lián tào fáng dōu zū bù qǐ ? nǚ shī xié gàng yuè rù sì wàn bā !

Couldn’t even afford a studio apartment? Female teacher earns 48,000 yuan a month through multiple streams of income!

EttodayMar 2026

杨铭威斜杠合开汤包店 黄金21摺口感超饱满“还有...

yáng míng wēi xié gàng gě kāi tāng bāo diàn huáng jīn 2 1 摺 kǒu gǎn chāo bǎo mǎn hái yǒu . . .

Yang Mingwei Launches a Dumpling Shop as a Side Hustle; "Golden 21" Dumplings Offer a Super-Filling Texture—"And there's more..."

Tatoeba

有一家便利店在马路斜对面。

Yǒu yījiā biànlìdiàn zài mǎlù xiéduì miàn.

There's a convenience store diagonally across the street.

Tatoeba

塔有点向西边倾斜。

Tǎ yǒudiǎn xiàng xībiān qīngxié.

The tower leaned slightly to the west.

Tatoeba

这条小路沿着陡峭的斜坡蜿蜒而上。

Zhè tiáo xiǎolù yánzhe dǒuqiào de xiépō wānyán ér shàng.

The path zigzagged up the steep slope.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 斗 (measuring cup) component

斗 Radical Family — Characters sharing the dipper radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced xié

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 斜 (xié) mean in Chinese?
斜 (xié) primarily means "inclined." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1769 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 斜 and 途?
斜 (xié) and 途 (tú) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 斗 vs 辶 (same 余 component).
How many strokes does 斜 have?
斜 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 斜?
The radical associated with 斜 is 斗 (dipper). This radical appears in many characters related to dipper.
What are the components of 斜?
斜 is composed of: 余 (phonetic), 斗 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰余斗 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 斜?
Common words with 斜 include: 倾斜 (qīng xié, "to incline"); 斜坡 (xié pō, "slope"); 斜眼 (xié yǎn, "to look askance"); 斜视 (xié shì, "a squint"); 斜线 (xié xiàn, "oblique line"). There are over 60 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 斜 (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 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 斜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 斜 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 斜 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.