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艺

藝
yì
noun #5,216

Meanings

  1. 1 skill; craft
  2. 2 art; artistic
  3. 3 talent; ability

Examples

他是一个艺术家。
Tā shì yígè yìshùjiā.
He is an artist.
手艺很好的师傅。
Shǒuyì hěn hǎode shīfu.
A master with excellent craftsmanship.
文艺节目很精彩。
Wényì jiémù hěn jīngcǎi.
The art performance was wonderful.

Tips

usage
艺 is mainly used in compounds: 艺术 (art), 手艺 (craftsmanship), 文艺 (literature and art), 工艺 (craft/technique), 演艺 (performing arts).

Components

radical
艹 cǎo
grass (radical form of 草)
Top grass radical, 艹 is the compressed form of 草. The radical is a simplification leftover: traditional 藝 showed a person planting (埶) under 艹, so the grass cap pictured cultivating a plant — the original meaning of 'art' was the skill of growing things. Simplified 艺 keeps only the cap.
phonetic
乙 yǐ
second; the 2nd heavenly stem
Bottom 乙 is a 1956 simplification stand-in: it replaces the entire 埶 + 云 cluster of traditional 藝 with a single hooked stroke. 乙 here gives a partial sound (yǐ → yì) but no semantic content — it is essentially a placeholder shape. The full historical 'planting/skill' image is preserved only in the radical above.

Stroke Order

艺 yì