贼 (zéi): thief, robber, (bound form) traitor, subversive, (bound form) evil, wicked
贼 (zéi) is a Chinese character meaning “thief.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 贝 (phonetic) and 戎 (semantic). It ranks #1973 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 贼 weapons. Its radical form 贝 (shell) appears in many related characters such as 贵 (guì, expensive), 负 (fù, to bear), 责 (zé, responsibility).
Definitions
- thief
- robber
- (bound form) traitor
- subversive
- (bound form) evil
- wicked
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 贼 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 盗贼noun | dào zéi | robber |
| 窃贼noun | qiè zéi | thief |
| 乌贼noun | wū zéi | cuttlefish |
| 飞贼 | fēi zéi | cat burglar |
| 卖国贼noun | mài guó zéi | traitor |
| 贼船noun | zéi chuán | pirate ship |
| 马贼noun | mǎ zéi | horse thief |
| 贼心noun | zéi xīn | evil intentions |
| 贼窝noun | zéi wō | thieves' lair |
| 国贼noun | guó zéi | traitor to the nation |
| 贼头贼脑 | zéi tóu zéi nǎo | lit. to behave like a thief |
| 贼亮 | zéi liàng | bright |
| 枪乌贼noun | qiāng wū zéi | squid |
| 叛贼noun | pàn zéi | renegade |
| 贼眼noun | zéi yǎn | shifty gaze |
贼 appears in 59 compound words: 19 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 27 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 贼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (10)
tyrant who has no support and brings disaster to the country and the people
to accuse others of wrongdoing as the wrongdoer to escape guilt and responsibility by diverting attention
tyrant who has no support and brings disaster to the country and the people
to accuse others of wrongdoing as the wrongdoer to escape guilt and responsibility by diverting attention
Showing 9 of 10 idioms containing 贼.
Example Sentences
我在字典里查到了贼字的详细解释。
wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le zéi zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .
I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "贼" in the dictionary.
...复仇者联盟 5》合体预演?“雷神”化身大贼硬撼“变形侠医”
. . . fù qiú zhě lián méng 5 gě tǐ yù yǎn ? léi shén huà shēn dà zéi yìng hàn biàn xíng xiá yī
... Avengers 5 Combined Preview?" Thor "turned into a big thief and shook the "transforming heroic doctor"
云南金铺遭蒙面贼洗劫损逾3公斤黄金 警方10小时破案助全...
yún nán jīn pù zāo méng miàn zéi xǐ jié sǔn yú 3 gōng jīn huáng jīn jǐng fāng 1 0 xiǎo shí pò àn zhù quán . . .
Yunnan gold shop was looted by masked thieves and lost more than 3 kilograms of gold, and the police solved the case in 10 hours to help the whole thing...
女子拜拜遇贼翻置物箱 警方迅速拦捕男嫌
nǚ zǐ bài bài yù zéi fān zhì wù xiāng jǐng fāng xùn sù lán bǔ nán xián
The police quickly stopped the male suspect
真人剧集《海贼王》第二季“前情回顾”宣传视频
zhēn rén jù jí hǎi zéi wáng dì èr jì qián qíng huí gù xuān chuán shì pín
The live-action series "One Piece" season 2 "Past Review" promotional video
以为黄金!贼闯宅偷宝盒 他:是我肾结石
yǐ wéi huáng jīn ! zéi chuǎng zhái tōu bǎo hé tā : shì wǒ shèn jié shí
Think it's gold! Thieves break into the house and steal treasure boxes He: It's my kidney stones
警察拘捕了这个窃贼。
Jǐngchá jūbǔ le zhège qièzéi.
The police officers arrested the burglar.
警方根据现场遗下的证物把贼子找了出来。
Jǐngfāng gēnjù xiànchǎng yí xià de zhèngwù bǎ zéi zǐ zhǎo le chūlái.
The burglar was traced by one of the things he had left on the scene.
一个窃贼闯进了他的房子。
Yī gè qièzéi chuǎngjìn le tā de fángzi.
A burglar broke into his house.
窃贼是从这扇门进到屋子里的。
Qièzéi shì cóng zhè shān mén jìn dào wūzi lǐ de.
The burglar gained access to the house through this door.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 贼 (zéi) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 贼 and 坝?
How many strokes does 贼 have?
What is the radical of 贼?
What are the components of 贼?
What are common words containing 贼?
Is 贼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 贼 with real-time feedback
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