埃 (āi): dust; dirt

Meanings

1 dust; dirt
2 angstrom (unit of length)
3 phonetic component (as in 埃及 'Egypt')

Characters

埃

āi

dust; angstrom

Examples

埃及是一个历史悠久的国家。

Āijí shì yīgè lìshǐ yōujiǔ de guójiā.

Egypt is a country with a long history.

尘埃落定之后，一切都清楚了。

Chén'āiluòdìng zhīhòu, yīqiè dōu qīngchu le.

After the dust settled, everything became clear.

Tips

usage

埃 most commonly appears in 埃及 (Egypt) and 尘埃 (dust). On its own it is rarely used in everyday speech.

Components

radical

土 tǔ

earth; soil

Left indexing radical 土 (earth, drawn as a mound on the ground). Anchors 埃 in the soil/ground family — 埃 originally meant fine dust that settles like a thin earth layer. Same radical drives 地 (ground), 块 (lump of earth), 城 (wall, earth-built), 尘 (dust).

phonetic

矣 yǐ

(final particle, classical)

Right side 矣 supplies the sound (yǐ → āi, an initial-vowel shift) — pure phonetic role, since 矣 itself is just a classical sentence-ending particle with no concrete meaning. Same phonetic in 唉 (āi, sigh) and 挨 (āi, suffer). Today 埃 is mostly seen in 尘埃 (dust) and 埃及 (Egypt, transliteration).