翼 (yì): wing (of a bird, aircraft, or b…

Meanings

1 wing (of a bird, aircraft, or building)
2 flank; side

Characters

翼

yì

wing; flank

Examples

鸟儿展开了双翼飞翔。

Niǎor zhǎnkāi le shuāngyì fēixiáng.

The bird spread its wings and flew.

飞机的左翼受损了。

Fēijī de zuǒyì shòusǔn le.

The left wing of the plane was damaged.

军队从两翼包围了敌人。

Jūnduì cóng liǎngyì bāowéi le dírén.

The army surrounded the enemy from both flanks.

Tips

usage

翼 is literary and formal. In everyday speech, 翅膀 (chìbǎng) is the common word for wing. 翼 appears in formal or compound words: 机翼 (jīyì, aircraft wing), 左翼 (zuǒyì, left wing), 右翼 (yòuyì, right wing).

grammar

小心翼翼 (xiǎoxīnyìyì, extremely cautious/careful) is a common idiom using the reduplication of 翼. It literally means 'careful with careful wings' — acting with extreme caution.

Components

radical

羽 yǔ

feathers; plumage

Top 羽 — the feather radical, drawn as two paired plumes side by side. It anchors 翼 in the bird-anatomy family alongside 翅 (wing), 翎 (tail-feather), 翔 (to glide). Sitting at the top, the feathers visibly hover over the body below — the picture is plumage spread wide for flight.

phonetic

異 yì

different; strange (here phonetic)

Bottom 異 supplies the sound — yì matches the parent reading exactly with no drift. 異 originally pictured a person holding a strange mask overhead; the upraised arms also hint faintly at outspread wings, reinforcing the picture of a bird with feathers raised on both sides.