堆 (duī) · to pile up; to heap

Meanings

1 to pile up; to heap
2 pile; heap; stack (also a measure word)

Characters

堆

duī

to pile up; heap; stack

土 (earth) + 隹 (short-tailed bird): earth piled up like a mound.

Examples

HSK 2

他有一堆事情要做。

Tā yǒu yìduī shìqing yào zuò.

He has a pile of things to do.

HSK 4

桌子上堆满了书。

Zhuōzi shàng duīmǎn le shū.

The desk is piled high with books.

HSK 4

门口有一堆垃圾。

Ménkǒu yǒu yìduī lājī.

There's a pile of trash at the entrance.

Tips

usage

一堆 is commonly used as a measure word meaning "a pile / heap of"; works for physical objects (一堆沙子, a pile of sand) and abstract things (一堆问题, a pile of problems).

Components

radical

土 tǔ

earth; soil

Left 土 is the indexing earth radical - a small mound rising from a base line, picturing piled soil. Anchors 堆 in the family of earthwork chars: 城 city wall, 场 field, 地 ground, 坡 slope, 墙 wall. The original sense of 堆 was "a heap of earth," which generalised to any pile or stack.

phonetic

隹 zhuī

short-tailed bird (here phonetic)

Right 隹 supplies the sound - zhuī shifting to duī through Old Chinese consonant alternation. Same phonetic family: 推 tuī to push, 谁 shéi who, 椎 zhuī mallet - all share the right-side bird glyph. 隹 itself depicts a small short-tailed bird with eye, wings, and feet; pure phonetic loan here, no bird-meaning contribution.