椅 (yǐ): chair

椅 (yǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “chair.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 奇 (phonetic). It ranks #1651 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 椅 wood. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. chair

Etymology & Origin

椅

pictophoneticwood

Decomposition: ⿰木奇 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 椅

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
椅子nounyǐ zichair1
轮椅nounlún yǐwheelchair6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
座椅nounzuò yǐseat
长椅nouncháng yǐbench
电椅noundiàn yǐelectric chair (used to execute criminals)
躺椅nountǎng yǐdeck chair
睡椅nounshuì yǐcouch
摇椅nounyáo yǐrocking chair
交椅nounjiāo yǐold-style wooden folding armchair, typically featuring a footrest
椅背nounyǐ bèithe back of a chair
折叠椅nounzhé dié yǐfolding chair
转椅zhuàn yǐswivel chair
坐椅zuò yǐseat
藤椅nounténg yǐrattan chair
扶手椅nounfú shǒu yǐarmchair
靠背椅nounkào bèi yǐhigh-back chair
人体工学椅nounrén tǐ gōng xué yǐergonomic chair
27
Total compounds
11
As first character
81
As last character
7
As middle character

椅 appears in 27 compound words: 11 as the first character, 81 as the last, and 7 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 椅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

座zuò
0.55013,457 co-occurrences
踢tī
0.53513 co-occurrences
轮lún
0.5263,320 co-occurrences
躺tǎng
0.525432 co-occurrences
搬bān
0.50016 co-occurrences
桌zhuō
0.4891,145 co-occurrences
坐zuò
0.4812,313 co-occurrences
忍rěn
0.45113 co-occurrences
壶hú
0.439164 co-occurrences
凳dèng
0.41682 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

桌椅板凳zhuōyǐbǎndèngHSK 7+

tables, chairs and stools; furniture (in general)

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

长时间坐在不合适的椅子上工作,容易导致腰背疼痛。

Cháng shíjiān zuò zài bù héshì de yǐzi shang gōngzuò, róngyì dǎozhì yāobèi téngtòng.

Sitting in an unsuitable chair for long periods can easily lead to back pain.

StheadlineFeb 2026

...26”展览周日揭幕 小学生发明AI分析座椅纠正坐姿

. . . 2 6 zhǎn lǎn zhōu rì jiē mù xiǎo xué shēng fā míng A I fēn xī zuò yǐ jiū zhèng zuò zī

... 26" exhibition opened on Sunday, and elementary school students invented AI to analyze the seat to correct the sitting posture

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

货车座椅改装 须变更车种

huò chē zuò yǐ gǎi zhuāng xū biàn gēng chē zhǒng

Truck seat modification requires a change of vehicle type

百度新闻Feb 2026

搭新幹線遇孩童狂踢椅背 近7成日本人選擇忍?坦言是怕「他們」

dā xīn 幹 線 yù hái tóng kuáng tī yǐ bèi jìn chéng rì běn rén 選 擇 rěn ? tǎn yán shì pà tā 們

Nearly 70% of Japanese people choose to endure when they encounter children kicking the back of chairs on the Shinkansen? Frankly said that he was afraid of "them"

EttodayFeb 2026

黃騰浩退居幕後「忙搬桌椅」! 角頭團隊新作懷秋、吳念軒雙帥登場

黃 騰 hào tuì jū mù 後 máng bān zhuō yǐ ! jiǎo 頭 團 隊 xīn zuò 懷 qiū 吳 niàn 軒 雙 帥 dēng 場

Huang Tenghao Steps Backstage to "Busy Moving Furniture"! New Work from Gangster Team Features Dual Heartthrobs Huai Qiu and Wu Nianxuan

Tatoeba

你可以移一移那张椅子吗?

Nǐ kěyǐ yí yī yí nà zhāng yǐzi ma?

Could you move the chair a bit?

Tatoeba

猫在椅子上面,还是在椅子下面呢?

Māo zài yǐzi shàngmiàn, háishi zài yǐzi xiàmiàn ne?

Is the cat on the chair or under the chair?

Tatoeba

那张木椅要多少钱?

Nà zhāng mù yǐ yào duōshao qián?

How much does the wooden chair cost?

Tatoeba

你家桌子边有几个椅子?

Nǐ jiā zhuōzi biān yǒu jǐge yǐzi?

How many chairs do you have around your table?

Tatoeba

「这张椅子是谁的?」「是我的。」

「 zhè zhāng yǐzi shì shéi de?」「 shì wǒ de.」

"Whose chair is this?" "It is mine."

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (wood) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǐ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 椅 (yǐ) mean in Chinese?
椅 (yǐ) primarily means "chair." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1651 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 椅 and 骑?
椅 (yǐ) and 骑 (qí) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 马 (same 奇 component).
How many strokes does 椅 have?
椅 is written with 12 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 椅?
The radical associated with 椅 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 椅?
椅 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 奇 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木奇 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 椅?
Common words with 椅 include: 椅子 (yǐ zi, "chair"); 轮椅 (lún yǐ, "wheelchair"); 座椅 (zuò yǐ, "seat"); 长椅 (cháng yǐ, "bench"); 电椅 (diàn yǐ, "electric chair (used to execute criminals)"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 椅 (yǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǐ: 倚 (to lean on), 旖 (used in 旖旎), 一 (one), 以 (to use), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 椅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 椅 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 椅 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.