低 (dī) · low, beneath

Meanings

1 low
2 beneath

Characters

低

dī

low; to lower

Person radical 亻 + 氐 (base/bottom) - a person bending down low.

Examples

HSK 2

他低着头走路。

Tā dī zhe tóu zǒulù.

He walked with his head lowered.

HSK 4

今天气温很低。

Jīntiān qìwēn hěn dī.

The temperature is very low today.

HSK 4

这个价格太低了。

Zhège jiàgé tài dī le.

This price is too low.

Tips

usage

高 (high) and 低 (low). Used for temperature, price, voice, quality, position, and height (of things, not people).

mistakes

For people's height, use 矮 (short), not 低. 低 is for abstract or measurable things.

Components

radical

亻 rén

person (radical form)

Left person radical, the side-form of 人. Marks 低 as a human-position or human-quality character: a person bending or stooping low. Same radical anchors 你 (you), 他 (he), 住 (reside), 倒 (fall).

phonetic

氐 dī

base; root

Right-side 氐 supplies the sound, matching the parent's dī exactly with no tone shift. Beyond sound, 氐 originally meant 'root, base, foundation' - what is at the bottom - so it doubles as semantic. The whole graph reads 'a person at the base = low, stoop, hang down.' Same dī phonetic: 底 (bottom), 抵 (resist).