乙
mostly supplies the sound yì or simply a bent hooked stroke rather than a meaning of its own · Kangxi radical 5
mostly supplies the sound yì or simply a bent hooked stroke rather than a meaning of its own, with the borrowed sense 'second'
乙 is written as a single bent stroke: a short line that turns downward and ends in a rightward hook. What the ancient graph pictured is genuinely unclear — it has been read as a swallow in flight and as a young plant pushing crookedly out of the soil, but nothing is settled; from very early on its real job was as the second of the ten heavenly stems, hence 'second'. In modern simplified characters it works chiefly as a sound clue for yì, as in 亿, 忆, 艺 and 钇. Elsewhere it is just that hooked tail you can trace at the bottom of 九 and 乞.
乙 at a glance
- Meaning
- mostly supplies the sound yì or simply a bent hooked stroke rather than a meaning of its own
- Strokes
- 1
- Characters
- 12
- Role
- Usually contributes sound
- Kangxi radical
- 5
Characters with 乙
HSK 1 · 2
HSK 6 · 1
Frequently asked questions
What does the component 乙 mean?
乙 means "mostly supplies the sound yì or simply a bent hooked stroke rather than a meaning of its own". In the characters that contain it, it usually contributes sound.
How many Chinese characters contain 乙?
12 characters in this dictionary contain 乙, including ones at HSK 1, HSK 4, HSK 6.
Is 乙 a radical?
Yes — 乙 is Kangxi radical 5, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does 乙 have?
乙 is written in 1 stroke.