写 (xiě) · to write

Meanings

1 to write
2 to compose; to author
3 to depict; to describe

Characters

写

xiě

to write

Examples

HSK 1

请写你的名字。

Qǐng xiě nǐ de míngzi.

Please write your name.

HSK 1

你会写中文吗？

Nǐ huì xiě Zhōngwén ma?

Can you write Chinese?

HSK 3

他在写作业。

Tā zài xiě zuòyè.

He is doing his homework.

Tips

usage

Core combinations: 写字 (write characters), 写信 (write a letter), 写作业 (do written homework), 写作 (writing as a craft). The verb covers anything put down on paper - characters, prose, music, code. The traditional freehand-painting style 写意 also keeps the xiě reading.

register

Almost always xiě. A rare second reading 写 (falling tone) exists only in the spoken expression 写意 (comfortable, leisurely, easy-going) - typical sentence: 日子过得很写意 (life is pleasant). The homograph 写意 - the famous freehand style of Chinese painting - stays on xiě.

Components

radical

冖 mì

cover; canopy

Top cover radical (Kangxi #14) - a flat canopy with a small downward hook. Indexes 写 alongside a small family: 军 (army under canopy), 农 (farming), 冠 (crown), 冥 (dark / underworld). Here the cover stands in for the roof of a building - words are committed to paper under shelter.

semantic

与 yǔ

give; and

Bottom 与 - modern simplified shape of 與 'to give'. It serves as a graphic stand-in: traditional 寫 had 宀 (roof) over 舄 (magpie phonetic, 12+ strokes); the 1956 reform replaced the bulky 舄 with the much shorter 与, which roughly echoes the original sound. Modern read: 'give-under-cover' = put words down on paper = write.