跪 (guì): to kneel; to kneel down

Meanings

1 to kneel; to kneel down

Characters

跪

guì

to kneel

Examples

他跪下来求她原谅。

Tā guìxià lái qiú tā yuánliàng.

He knelt down and begged her forgiveness.

在中国古代，百姓要向皇帝下跪。

Zài Zhōngguó gǔdài, bǎixìng yào xiàng huángdì xiàguì.

In ancient China, commoners had to kneel before the emperor.

别跪着了，快起来。

Bié guì zhe le, kuài qǐlái.

Don't kneel — get up quickly.

Tips

usage

下跪 (xiàguì) is a more formal way to say 'to kneel down.' 跪下 (guì xià) is more colloquial. In internet slang, 跪了 or 跪求 expresses extreme admiration or desperate pleading.

memory

足 (foot) radical + 危 (danger) — your feet are in a dangerous position, folded under you as you kneel.

Components

radical

足 zú

foot; leg (radical)

Left radical 足 — a foot drawn with calf above and toes below. Marks 跪 as a leg/foot action: kneeling is precisely what the lower body does. Same radical drives the leg-verb family 跑 (run), 跳 (jump), 路 (road), 踢 (kick), 跟 (follow). When 足 sits on the left it compresses without losing strokes.

phonetic

危 wēi

danger; precarious (phonetic)

Right phonetic 危 supplies the sound (wēi → guì, a heavy drift but historically related). 危 itself pictures a person on a cliff edge — precarious. The semantic flavour fits beautifully: kneeling places your weight on a tiny, unstable surface. Same phonetic appears in 诡 (deceitful) and 脆 (brittle).