懿 (yì): (literary) exemplary, virtuous

懿 (yì) is a Chinese character meaning “(literary) exemplary.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 壹 (phonetic) and 恣 (structural). It ranks #9999 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 懿 heart. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 恨 (hèn, to hate), 情 (qíng, feeling, emotion), 快 (kuài, fast, happy).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (literary) exemplary
  2. virtuous

Etymology & Origin

懿

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿰壹恣 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
司马懿sī mǎ yìSima Yi (179-251), warlord under Cao Cao and subsequently founder of the Jin dynasty
懿亲yì qīn(formal) close kin
唐懿宗táng yì zōngEmperor Yizong of Tang (833-873), reign name of eighteenth Tang emperor Li Cui 李漼, reigned 859-873
懿旨nounyì zhǐan imperial decree
4
Total compounds
50
As first character
25
As last character
25
As middle character

懿 appears in 4 compound words: 50 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 25 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他懿甘情愿地帮助每一个需要帮助的人。

tā yì gān qíng yuàn dì bāng zhù měi yī gè xū yāo bāng zhù de rén .

He willingly helps anyone who needs assistance.

中国新闻网·文化Oct 2026

中国石油大学(华东)石油工程学院学生王子懿,常在院士文库书墙上的沈忠厚箴言前驻足。

zhōng guó shí yóu dà xué ( huá dōng ) shí yóu gōng chéng xué yuàn xué shēng wáng zǐ yì , cháng zài yuàn shì wén kù shū qiáng shàng de shěn zhōng hòu 箴 yán qián zhù zú .

Wang Ziyi, a student in the School of Petroleum Engineering at China University of Petroleum (East China), often pauses in front of Shen Zhonghou’s aphorisms on the bookshelf in the Academician Library.

爱范儿Jun 2026

原大中华区总裁司懿德预计将出任亚太事业部董事总经理,新架构计划 7 月 1 日落地。

yuán dà zhōng huá qū zǒng cái sī yì dé yù jì jiāng chū rèn yà tài shì yè bù dǒng shì zǒng jīng lǐ , xīn jià gòu jì huá 7 yuè 1 rì luò dì .

Si Yide, former president of Greater China, is expected to assume the role of managing director of the Asia-Pacific Business Unit, with the new organizational structure set to take effect on July 1.

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

王懿律:一路走来经历了无数次跌倒与“破茧重生”

wáng yì lǜ : yī lù zǒu lái jīng lì le wú shǔ cì diē dǎo yǔ pò 茧 chóng shēng

Wang Yilü: Along the way, I’ve experienced countless setbacks and “emerged from the cocoon”

StheadlineApr 2026

...ncy恋噏Show》 戴祖仪获黄宗泽黎诺懿探班打气

. . . n c y liàn 噏 S h o w dài zǔ yí huò huáng zōng zé lí nuò yì tàn bān dǎ qì

...ncy Love Song Show》: Dai Zuyi Receives a Visit from Wong Chung-chak and Lai Lok-yee to Cheer Her On

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 心 (heart) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 懿 (yì) mean in Chinese?
懿 (yì) primarily means "(literary) exemplary." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #9999 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 懿 have?
懿 is written with 22 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 懿?
The radical associated with 懿 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 懿?
懿 is composed of: 壹 (phonetic), 恣 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰壹恣 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 懿?
Common words with 懿 include: 司马懿 (sī mǎ yì, "Sima Yi (179-251), warlord under Cao Cao and subsequently founder of the Jin dynasty"); 懿亲 (yì qīn, "(formal) close kin"); 唐懿宗 (táng yì zōng, "Emperor Yizong of Tang (833-873), reign name of eighteenth Tang emperor Li Cui 李漼, reigned 859-873"); 懿旨 (yì zhǐ, "an imperial decree"). There are over 4 compound words containing this character.
Is 懿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 懿 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 懿 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.