挺 (tǐng): quite

Meanings

1 quite
2 rather
3 very

Characters

挺

tǐng

quite; rather; straight; endure

Examples

今天挺冷的。

Jīntiān tǐng lěng de.

It's quite cold today.

这个菜挺好吃的。

Zhège cài tǐng hǎochī de.

This dish is quite tasty.

她挺漂亮的。

Tā tǐng piàoliang de.

She's quite pretty.

Tips

usage

挺 + adjective + 的 is the standard pattern. Very colloquial — more casual than 很.

mistakes

Don't forget the 的 at the end for natural-sounding sentences.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand

Hand radical on the left — the standing form of 手 with three strokes. Its meaning here is to do an action: pulling something straight, sticking out the chest, supporting a position. The radical anchors 挺 in the broader physical-effort family alongside 拉, 推, 抬 and 撑.

phonetic

廷 tíng

court; hall

廷 supplies the sound, tone-shifted to tǐng. It pictures a person standing upright in a courtyard — a fitting flavour for 挺 (to stand straight, to stick out). Same phonetic stem also feeds 庭 (courtyard) and 艇 (boat). The straight-spine image makes both sound and meaning easy to recall.