跪 (guì) · to kneel; to kneel down

Meanings

1 to kneel; to kneel down

Characters

跪

guì

to kneel

Examples

HSK 2

别跪着了，快起来。

Bié guì zhe le, kuài qǐlái.

Don't kneel - get up quickly.

HSK 6

他跪下来求她原谅。

Tā guìxià lái qiú tā yuánliàng.

He knelt down and begged her forgiveness.

HSK 6

在中国古代，百姓要向皇帝下跪。

Zài Zhōngguó gǔdài, bǎixìng yào xiàng huángdì xiàguì.

In ancient China, commoners had to kneel before the emperor.

Tips

usage

下跪 is a more formal way to say 'to kneel down.' 跪下 is more colloquial. In internet slang, 跪了 or 跪求 expresses extreme admiration or desperate pleading.

memory

足 (foot) radical + 危 (danger) - your feet are in a dangerous position, folded under you as you kneel.

Components

radical

足 zú

foot; leg (radical)

Left radical 足 - a foot drawn with calf above and toes below. Marks 跪 as a leg/foot action: kneeling is precisely what the lower body does. Same radical drives the leg-verb family 跑 (run), 跳 (jump), 路 (road), 踢 (kick), 跟 (follow). When 足 sits on the left it compresses without losing strokes.

phonetic

危 wēi

danger; precarious (phonetic)

Right phonetic 危 supplies the sound (wēi → guì, a heavy drift but historically related). 危 itself pictures a person on a cliff edge - precarious. The semantic flavour fits beautifully: kneeling places your weight on a tiny, unstable surface. Same phonetic appears in 诡 (deceitful) and 脆 (brittle).