wéi
verb HSK 3 #3,487

Meanings

  1. 1 to surround
  2. 2 to encircle
  3. 3 all around

Characters

The enclosure radical literally surrounds the inside component, visually representing the meaning.

Examples

Háizi men wéi zhe lǎoshī.
The children gathered around the teacher.
Jǐngchá wéi zhù le dàlóu.
The police surrounded the building.
Wéi zhe zhuōzi zuò.
Sit around the table.

Tips

usage
often uses the pattern 围着 + object, meaning 'around' something. Also appears in compound words: 围巾 (scarf), 周围 (surroundings).
culture
围棋 — the ancient board game Go — literally means 'encircling chess,' reflecting the game's strategy of surrounding territory.

Components

radical
wéi
enclosure; border
Outer is the big enclosure radical (wéi, not the small mouth ) — four walls around an inner space. Indexing radical of , supplying the meaning directly: to surround, encircle. Family: , , , — all chars where wraps something inside.
phonetic
wéi
leather strap; tanned hide
Inner supplies the sound (wéi → wéi, identical) — an unusually clean phonetic match. itself originally pictured feet circling a position (a sentry going around); that 'going around' image faintly reinforces the surrounding meaning of . Same phonetic appears in (wěi, great) and (wéi, violate).

Stroke Order

wéi