写 (xiě): to write

Meanings

1 to write
2 to compose; to author
3 to depict; to describe

Characters

写

xiě

to write

Examples

请写你的名字。

Qǐng xiě nǐ de míngzi.

Please write your name.

他在写作业。

Tā zài xiě zuòyè.

He is doing his homework.

你会写中文吗？

Nǐ huì xiě Zhōngwén ma?

Can you write Chinese?

Tips

usage

Core combinations: 写字 (write characters), 写信 (write a letter), 写作业 (do written homework), 写作 (writing as a craft). The verb covers anything put down on paper — characters, prose, music, code. The traditional freehand-painting style 写意 also keeps the xiě reading.

register

Almost always xiě. A rare second reading 写 (falling tone) exists only in the spoken expression 写意 (comfortable, leisurely, easy-going) — typical sentence: 日子过得很写意 (life is pleasant). The homograph 写意 — the famous freehand style of Chinese painting — stays on xiě.

Components

radical

冖 mì

cover; canopy

Top cover radical (Kangxi #14) — a flat canopy with a small downward hook. Indexes 写 alongside a small family: 军 (army under canopy), 农 (farming), 冠 (crown), 冥 (dark / underworld). Here the cover stands in for the roof of a building — words are committed to paper under shelter.

semantic

与 yǔ

give; and

Bottom 与 — modern simplified shape of 與 'to give'. It serves as a graphic stand-in: traditional 寫 had 宀 (roof) over 舄 (magpie phonetic, 12+ strokes); the 1956 reform replaced the bulky 舄 with the much shorter 与, which roughly echoes the original sound. Modern read: 'give-under-cover' = put words down on paper = write.