缇萦

緹縈

Tíyíng

proper noun

Meanings

1 Tiying, Western Han girl whose petition to Emperor Wen saved her father and led him to abolish mutilating punishments

Characters

reddish-yellow silk

to wind around; to entwine

Examples

HSK 5

缇萦为了救父亲，给汉文帝写了一封信。

Tíyíng wèile jiù fùqin, gěi Hàn Wéndì xiě le yì fēng xìn.

To save her father, Tiying wrote a letter to Emperor Wen of Han.

HSK 7-9

缇萦愿意做官府的奴婢，来替父亲赎罪。

Tíyíng yuànyi zuò guānfǔ de núbì, lái tì fùqin shúzuì.

Tiying offered to become a government slave to atone for her father's crime.

Tips

history

Her father 淳于意, a famous physician, faced mutilation in 167 BC and lamented that having only daughters was no help in trouble. Tiying, the youngest of his five daughters, went with him to 长安 and wrote to the emperor, who was moved to abolish the mutilating punishments, 肉刑. The story is known as 缇萦救父.

Stroke Order

缇 tí

萦 yíng