丁
dīng
male adult
surname Ding; the 4th of the 10 Heavenly Stems 天干[tian1 gan1]; fourth (used like "4" or "D"); small cube of meat or vegetable; (literary) to encounter; (archaic) ancient Chinese compass point: 195°; (chemistry) butyl
a picture of 丁 → a nail
The horizontal stroke is the nail's flat head, and the vertical stroke is the shaft driven into wood. From 'nail' it extended to mean a small, hard unit — hence cubes of food, and by sound, the fourth heavenly stem.
他姓丁，是我们班的同学。
tā xìng dīng，shì wǒ men bān de tóng xué。
His surname is Ding; he is a classmate of ours.
这道菜里有很多鸡丁和蔬菜。
zhè dào cài lǐ yǒu hěn duō jī dīng hé shū cài。
This dish has a lot of diced chicken and vegetables in it.
Words with 丁
拉丁
lā dīng
(in former times) to press-gang
普丁
pǔ dīng
(Tw) Vladimir Putin (1952-), president of Russia
丁字
dīng zì
T-shaped
马丁尼
mǎ dīng ní
(loanword) martini
丁卯
dīng mǎo
fourth year D4 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 1987 or 2047
紫丁香
zǐ dīng xiāng
lilac
家丁
jiā dīng
(old) servant hired to keep guard, run errands etc
丁香
dīng xiāng
lilac (Syringa spp)
卡丁车
kǎ dīng chē
go-kart
阿伯丁
ā bó dīng
Aberdeen (city on east coast of Scotland)
阿斯顿·马丁
ā sī dùn · mǎ dīng
Aston Martin
阿拉丁
ā lā dīng
Aladdin, character in one of the tales in the The Book of One Thousand and One Nights