替

tì
preposition HSK 5 #799

Meanings

  1. 1 for; on behalf of
  2. 2 to replace; to substitute for

Examples

HSK 1
Wǒ tì nǐ gāoxìng.
I'm happy for you.
HSK 2
Nǐ néng tì wǒ ná yíxià ma?
Can you hold this for me?
HSK 5
Méiyǒu rén néng tìdài tā de wèizhi.
No one can take his place.

Tips

grammar
As a preposition meaning 'for/on behalf of,' 替 is interchangeable with 帮 or 给 in many contexts: 替我买 = 帮我买 = buy for me.

Components

radical
日 rì
sun; day
Bottom is the sun radical (the entry indexes under 曰 'speak' which is graphically identical, square with a stroke inside). It marks the daylit setting in which one figure replaces another - a quiet, observed swap by daylight. The radical itself is a pictograph of the sun with a central stroke.
semantic
夫 fū
man; husband
Top-left 夫 - pictograph of a grown man with a hairpin, marking adulthood. Paired with the second 夫 to its right, the two figures depict one person standing in for another, the core image behind 替 'to replace, to substitute'. Originally read as an ideographic compound: two men, one swapping places with the other.
semantic
夫 fū
man; husband
Top-right 夫 mirrors the left one - the second figure in the pair. The reduplication is the whole point: it is the visible image of substitution, one person standing where another stood. The duplicated 夫 over 日 originally read as 'one man taking the daylit place of another' before the meaning generalised.

Stroke Order

替 tì