踢 (tī) · to kick, to play (football/soccer)

Meanings

1 to kick
2 to play (football/soccer)

Characters

踢

tī

to kick

Examples

HSK 2

别踢我！

Bié tī wǒ!

Don't kick me!

HSK 3

他每个周末都去踢足球。

Tā měigè zhōumò dōu qù tī zúqiú.

He plays soccer every weekend.

HSK 5

他故意踢人，被裁判罚下了场。

Tā gùyì tī rén, bèi cáipàn fá xià le chǎng.

He deliberately kicked someone, and the referee sent him off.

Tips

usage

In Chinese you 踢 football (kick it) but 打 basketball and 打 volleyball (hit them). The verb matches the primary body action of the sport.

memory

足 (foot) radical + 易 (easy) - easy with the foot, a natural kicking motion.

Components

radical

足 zú

foot; leg (radical)

Left radical 足 - a foot drawn with the ankle on top and toes below. Marks 踢 as a foot action and groups it with the large 足-family of leg verbs: 跑 (run), 跳 (jump), 跪 (kneel), 路 (road). When 足 sits on the left it compresses slightly while keeping its full stroke count.

phonetic

易 yì

easy; change (phonetic)

Right phonetic 易 supplies the sound (yì → tī, a heavy drift but historically related). Same phonetic appears in 锡 (tin) and 赐 (bestow). 易 originally pictured a lizard or a sun above flowing rays, but here it functions purely as a sound marker rather than a meaning contributor.