(): to overflow, (literary) excessive

() is a Chinese character meaning “to overflow.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2372 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to overflow
  2. (literary) excessive

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵益 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
cái huá héng yìbrimming over with talent (esp. literary)
yáng yìbrimming with
yì chūto overflow
yì měi zhī cíflattering words
nǎo yì xuècerebral hemorrhage
rè qíng yáng yìbrimming with enthusiasm (idiom)
yì yú yán biǎoto exhibit one's feelings in one's speech
liú guāng yì cǎilit. flowing light and overflowing color
héng yìto overflow
chōng yìto overflow (with riches)
yì chū xiào yìngspillover effect
wài yì(of liquid) to spill out
sì yì(of a perfume or a foul odor) permeating the whole place
yì liú kǒngbleed hole
mǎn yìto be full to overflowing
19
Total compounds
37
As first character
53
As last character
11
As middle character

appears in 19 compound words: 37 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 11 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.

héng
0.4811,932 co-occurrences
yáng
0.4774,854 co-occurrences
hóng
0.4723,060 co-occurrences
cái
0.4615,040 co-occurrences
0.457882 co-occurrences
nǎo
0.4561,092 co-occurrences
xiě
0.4422,910 co-occurrences
liú
0.4024,524 co-occurrences
zhī
0.388366 co-occurrences
jià
0.3791,024 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

cáihuáhéngyìHSK 7+

full of talent; brimming with talent

phrase
rèqíngyángyìHSK 7+

brimming with enthusiasm; ebullient

phrase
yìměizhīcíHSK 7+

fulsome compliments

phrase
yìyúyánbiǎoHSK 7+

beyond words

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

暴雨过后,水上涨,淹没了低洼的街道。

bào yǔ guò hòu , yì shuǐ shǎng zhǎng , yān méi le dī 洼 de jiē dào .

After the downpour, the overflowing water rose, submerging the low-lying streets.

Investing 香港Feb 2026

高市早苗“鸽派提名”点燃期限价! 日本长期限国债抛售风暴再起

gāo shì zǎo miáo gē pài tí míng diǎn rán qī xiàn yì jià ! rì běn cháng qī xiàn guó zhài pāo shòu fēng bào zài qǐ

Sanae Gaoshi's "dovish nomination" ignites the term premium! The sell-off storm of Japan's long-term government bonds has resumed

EtnetFeb 2026

【企业盈喜】猫眼娱乐(01896)料去年利最多5.9亿人币,升2.2倍

qǐ yè yíng xǐ māo yǎn yú lè ( 0 1 8 9 6 ) liào qù nián yì lì zuì duō 5 . 9 yì rén bì , shēng 2 . 2 bèi

Maoyan Entertainment (01896) expects a profit of up to 590 million yuan last year, up 2.2 times

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

009816爆量却现2%价⋯股民忧买贵了!网劝等稳定再买

0 0 9 8 1 6 bào liàng què xiàn 2 yì jià gǔ mín yōu mǎi guì le ! wǎng quàn děng wěn dìng zài mǎi

009816 explosion is now 2% premium⋯ Shareholders are worried about buying expensive! Online persuasion to wait for stability before buying

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

台积电ADR相对抗跌 较台北交易价22% 日月光跌逾2%

tái jī diàn A D R xiāng duì kàng diē jiào tái běi jiāo yì yì jià 2 2 rì yuè guāng diē yú 2

TSMC ADR is relatively resistant to decline, with a 22% premium from Taipei trading, and ASE fell more than 2%

StheadlineFeb 2026

晨光追击│“丰盛”佳态洋

chén guāng zhuī jī fēng shèng jiā tài yáng yì

Morning light pursuit│"Abundant" is full of beauty

Tatoeba

所有的牛奶都出去了。

Suǒyǒu de niúnǎi dōu yìchū qù le.

All of the milk was spilled.

Tatoeba

汤姆看起来没有玛丽那么才华横

Tāngmǔ kànqǐlai méiyǒu Mǎlì nàme cáihuáhéngyì.

Tom doesn't seem to be as talented as Mary seems to be.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 溢 (yì) mean in Chinese?
溢 (yì) primarily means "to overflow." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2372 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 溢 and 隘?
溢 (yì) and 隘 (ài) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 阝 (same 益 component).
How many strokes does 溢 have?
溢 is written with 13 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 溢?
The radical associated with 溢 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 溢?
溢 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 益 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵益 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 溢?
Common words with 溢 include: 才华横溢 (cái huá héng yì, "brimming over with talent (esp. literary)"); 洋溢 (yáng yì, "brimming with"); 溢出 (yì chū, "to overflow"); 溢美之词 (yì měi zhī cí, "flattering words"); 脑溢血 (nǎo yì xuè, "cerebral hemorrhage"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 溢 (yì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yì: 一 (one), 衣 (clothing), 医 (medicine), 宜 (proper), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 溢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 溢 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.