铁

鐵
tiě
noun HSK 7-9 #2,519

Meanings

  1. 1 iron
  2. 2 hard; strong
  3. 3 firm; unshakable

Characters

Contains the metal radical 钅, identifying it as a type of metal.

Examples

HSK 2
Zhège mén shì tiě zuò de.
This door is made of iron.
HSK 4
Tāmen shì tiě gēmenr.
They are very close buddies.
HSK 6
Chènrè-dǎtiě.
Strike while the iron is hot.

Tips

usage
铁 can mean 'hardcore/solid' in slang: 铁粉 = diehard fan, 铁哥们儿 = solid bro.

Components

radical
钅 jīn
metal radical
Left radical 钅 is the simplified left-side form of 金 (metal/gold), used in roughly all metallurgical chars. It groups 铁 with the whole metal family - 银 (silver), 铜 (copper), 钢 (steel), 钱 (money/coin), 锁 (lock) - a high-yield radical for vocabulary expansion.
phonetic
失 shī
to lose
Right phonetic 失 supplies the sound - shī shifted heavily to tiě, a long-distance drift typical of simplified-char rebuildings. Traditional 鐵 used the more transparent 戜 phonetic; the modern 铁 swapped in 失 as a graphically simpler stand-in. The sound link is now opaque, but 失 still functions as the phonetic slot.

Stroke Order

铁 tiě