Clothes Radical (衤) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
衤 is the clothes radical. It appears in 20 of the most common Chinese characters — these 12 are the ones worth learning first, and the worksheet below gives every one of them a pinyin header, a stroke-by-stroke model and blank Tianzige grids to copy into.
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What does 衤 mean?
Clothes radical · 衣 yī · 6 strokes · clothes
As a radical it is called 衣字旁 (yī zì páng).
It usually appears on the left (衤), or as a frame (衣). The Origin column below shows what each character's parts do — many take their meaning from the radical, some take their sound from the other half.
衣 itself: A woman's dress
12 common characters with 衤
Ranked by how often they appear in real written Chinese. Every character links to its own page with a stroke-order animation and example words.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 表 | biǎo | watch; form, table | Fur 毛 clothing 衣; a shawl or wrap |
| 被 | bèi | [passive marker] | 皮 supplies the sound |
| 展 | zhǎn | exhibition, display | Laying out clothes 㠭 for sale in a market 尸; compare 㠭 |
| 装 | zhuāng | pack, load; fix, install; pretend; play the role of | 壮 supplies the sound |
| 初 | chū | elementary, just beginning; first | Cutting 刀 the cloth 衤 is the first step in making clothes |
| 依 | yī | according to, by | 衣 supplies the sound |
| 补 | bǔ | mend, repair; make up for | 卜 supplies the sound |
| 袋 | dài | [measure word for things contained in a bag, packet, sachet, etc.] | 代 supplies the sound |
| 裁 | cái | to cut out (as a dress); to cut; to trim; to reduce; to diminish; to c… | To cut 戈 cloth 衣 |
| 裂 | liè | to split; to crack; to break open; to rend | 列 supplies the sound |
| 袭 | xí | (bound form) to raid; to attack; (bound form) to continue the pattern… | 衣 supplies the sound |
| 袖 | xiù | sleeve; to tuck inside one's sleeve | 由 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 艮Blunt radical · gèn13 common characters · blunt, stubborn; a mountain pass
- 艹Grass radical · cǎo39 common characters · grass; plants
- 虫Insect radical · chóng9 common characters · insect, reptile
- 讠Speech radical · yán56 common characters · speech, words
- 贝Shell radical · bèi36 common characters · shell; (ancient) money
- 走Walk radical · zǒu10 common characters · to walk, to run
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