隐 (yǐn): (bound form) secret, hidden, concealed, crypto-, to lean upon

隐 (yǐn) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) secret.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 阝 (structural) and 急 (structural). It ranks #1033 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 隐 a place 阝 to hide when worried 急. Its radical form 阝 (mound) appears in many related characters such as 那 (nà, (specifier) that), 都 (dōu, all), 院 (yuàn, courtyard).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) secret
  2. hidden
  3. concealed
  4. crypto-
  5. to lean upon

Etymology & Origin

隐

ideographicA place 阝 to hide when worried 急

Decomposition: ⿰阝急 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 隐

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
隐藏verbyǐn cángto hide6
隐私nounyǐn sīsecrets6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
隐瞒verbyǐn mánto conceal
隐形adjectiveyǐn xínginvisible
隐蔽verbyǐn bìto conceal
隐秘verbyǐn mìsecret
隐身verbyǐn shēnto hide oneself
隐居verbyǐn jūto live in seclusion
隐形眼镜nounyǐn xíng yǎn jìngcontact lens
隐喻nounyǐn yùmetaphor
隐姓埋名phraseyǐn xìng mái míngto conceal one's identity
隐患nounyǐn huàna danger concealed within sth
隐情nounyǐn qíngsth one wishes to keep secret
隐私权nounyǐn sī quánprivacy right
隐约adjectiveyǐn yuēvague
隐士nounyǐn shìhermit
隐匿verbyǐn nìto cover up
100
Total compounds
83
As first character
11
As last character
6
As middle character

隐 appears in 100 compound words: 83 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 6 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 隐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

瞒mán
0.6992,941 co-occurrences
蔽bì
0.6012,773 co-occurrences
藏zàng
0.5348,172 co-occurrences
喻yù
0.5181,547 co-occurrences
私sī
0.5014,023 co-occurrences
匿nì
0.495974 co-occurrences
患huàn
0.4612,494 co-occurrences
居jū
0.4424,162 co-occurrences
惕tì
0.435160 co-occurrences
讳huì
0.398106 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (14)

忽隐忽现hū yǐn hū xiànHSK 6+

intermittent; now you see it, now you don't

phrase
难言之隐nányánzhīyǐnHSK 6+

something too embarrassing to mention; an embarrassing illness

phrase
若隐若现ruòyǐnruòxiànHSK 7+

faint; fuzzy; indistinct

phrase
隐恶扬善yǐn'èyángshànHSK 6+

to conceal someone's faults and praise their merits

phrase
隐迹埋名yǐn jì mái míngHSK 6+

to live incognito

phrase
隐名埋姓yǐn míng mái xìngHSK 6+

see 隱姓埋名|隐姓埋名

phrase
隐身草儿yǐn shēn cǎo rHSK 6+

erhua variant of 隱身草|隐身草

phrase
隐形眼镜yǐnxíng yǎnjìngHSK 6+

contact lens

noun
隐姓埋名yǐnxìngmáimíngHSK 6+

to conceal one's identity; to live incognito

phrase
隐隐约约yǐnyǐnyuēyuēHSK 6+

vague; dim; faint; vaguely; dimly; faintly

adjectiveadverb
隐约其辞yǐn yuē qí cíHSK 6+

equivocal speech; to use vague or ambiguous language

phrase
直言无隐zhí yán wú yǐnHSK 6+

see 直言不諱|直言不讳

phrase

Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing 隐.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他隐藏了自己的真实身份,没人知道他的过去。

Tā yǐncáng le zìjǐ de zhēnshí shēnfèn, méi rén zhīdào tā de guòqù.

He concealed his true identity; no one knew about his past.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

社会救助法草案二审 加强个人隐私和信息保护

shè huì jiù zhù fǎ cǎo àn èr shěn jiā qiáng gè rén yǐn sī hé xìn xī bǎo hù

The second instance of the draft social assistance law strengthens the protection of personal privacy and information

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

法律频道/以投代工...争取供应链隐形门票

fǎ lǜ pín dào yǐ tóu dài gōng . . . zhēng qǔ gōng yīng liàn yǐn xíng mén piào

Legal channel/investment OEM... Strive for supply chain invisibility tickets

99 健康网Feb 2026

无糖食品真的无糖吗?糊精、麦芽糖浆会隐藏升糖成分吗

wú táng shí pǐn zhēn de wú táng ma ? hú jīng mài yá táng jiāng huì yǐn zàng shēng táng chéng fēn ma

Are sugar-free foods truly sugar-free? Can dextrin and malt syrup conceal glycemic components?

NewsFeb 2026

Meta 智慧眼镜传加入脸部辨识功能,隐私风险急升高

zhì huì yǎn jìng chuán jiā rù liǎn bù biàn shí gōng néng , yǐn sī fēng xiǎn jí shēng gāo

Meta Smart Glasses Reportedly Add Facial Recognition Feature, Privacy Risks Soar

NewsFeb 2026

德州起诉中国电商Shein!吴欣岱曝隐忧

dé zhōu qǐ sù zhōng guó diàn shāng ! wú xīn 岱 pù yǐn yōu

Texas Sues Chinese E-commerce Giant Shein! Wu Xinda Reveals Hidden Concerns

Tatoeba

为什么你要试图隐藏自己的情感?

Wèishénme nǐ yào shìtú yǐncáng zìjǐ de qínggǎn?

Why are you trying to hide your feelings?

Tatoeba

汤姆很隐秘,不是吗?

Tāngmǔ hěn yǐnmì, bùshìma?

Tom is being very secretive, isn't he?

Tatoeba

不要隐瞒你对此的想法。

Bù yào yǐnmán nǐ duì cǐ de xiǎngfǎ.

Don't conceal what you feel about it.

Tatoeba

透过薄雾,我隐约看见了我的未来。

Tòuguò bówù, wǒ yǐnyuē kànjiàn le wǒ de wèilái.

In looking through the mist, I caught a glimpse of my future.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǐn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 隐 (yǐn) mean in Chinese?
隐 (yǐn) primarily means "(bound form) secret." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1033 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 隐 have?
隐 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 隐?
The radical associated with 隐 is 阝 (mound). This radical appears in many characters related to mound.
What are the components of 隐?
隐 is composed of: 阝 (structural), 急 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰阝急 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 隐?
Common words with 隐 include: 隐藏 (yǐn cáng, "to hide"); 隐瞒 (yǐn mán, "to conceal"); 隐私 (yǐn sī, "secrets"); 隐形 (yǐn xíng, "invisible"); 隐蔽 (yǐn bì, "to conceal"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 隐 (yǐn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǐn: 因 (cause), 引 (to draw (e.g. a bow)), 音 (sound), 印 (to print), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 隐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 隐 and the traditional form is 隱.

Practice writing 隐 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.