崴 (wǎi): to sprain (one's ankle)

Meanings

1 to sprain (one's ankle)
2 to twist (a joint)

Characters

崴

wǎi

to sprain; (alt.) high and steep

Examples

她在跑步时崴了脚踝。

Tā zài pǎobù shí wǎi le jiǎohuái.

She sprained her ankle while running.

走路不小心崴了脚，疼得很。

Zǒulù bù xiǎoxīn wǎi le jiǎo, téng de hěn.

I accidentally twisted my foot while walking - it hurt a lot.

Tips

usage

崴 is almost exclusively used in the colloquial expression 崴脚 (wǎi jiǎo) - to sprain one's ankle. It has a second pronunciation wēi meaning 'high and steep', but that usage is rare in modern Chinese.

Components

radical

山 shān

mountain

Top mountain radical - the indexing radical. Pictograph of three peaks. Anchors 崴 in the topography family with 岭 ridge, 岸 shore, 峰 peak. The connection to 'sprain' is metaphorical: stumbling on uneven mountain ground twists the ankle - terrain that bends a joint.

phonetic

威 wēi

awe; might

Bottom 威 supplies the sound: wēi becomes wǎi via tone shift and vowel modification. Same phonetic family includes 巍 lofty, 偎 cuddle close. Pure sound role; the awesome/imposing meaning of 威 doesn't carry into 崴 - which is firmly anchored on its mountain-terrain semantics for the colloquial 'twist an ankle' usage.