宜

yí
adjective #13,617

Meanings

  1. 1 proper; suitable; appropriate

Examples

HSK 3
Piányi de dōngxi bùyīdìng chà.
Cheap things aren't necessarily bad.
HSK 4
Zhèlǐ qìhòu yírén.
The climate here is pleasant.

Tips

usage
宜 appears in: 便宜 (cheap), 适宜 (suitable), 宜人 (pleasant). Note: in 便宜 the pronunciation changes to yi (neutral tone). Also seen in the city name 宜昌.

Components

radical
宀 mián
roof; house (radical)
Top roof radical, three strokes of a sloped house cover. Anchors 宜 in the household family. The character originally pictured sacrificial meat on an offering table inside an ancestral hall; ritual fit there gave the modern 'suitable, fitting.' Same family: 家, 安, 宁, 宫.
semantic
且 qiě
moreover; an offering stand
Bottom 且 - originally a pictograph of a tall sacrificial stand stacked with meat offerings (later borrowed for the conjunction 'moreover'). Beneath the roof above, 宜 reads as 'offerings properly arranged inside an ancestral hall,' the origin of the modern meaning 'fitting, appropriate, ought to.'

Stroke Order

宜 yí