剔 (tī) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

剔

tī[ti1]Tone 1

to scrape, to pick, to weed out

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · to scrape, to pick, to weed out

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (刂) is narrow and compressed on the left side, while the right component (易) is wider and balanced, ensuring the character does not lean too far to either side.

1. Meaning

to scrape meat from bones

to pick teethto weed out or eliminate the undesirable

VerbNeutral#butchery#grooming#selection

Sample Usage

剔骨肉
tī gǔ ròu
meat scraped from bones
剔牙
tī yá
to pick one's teeth

2. Sound

/[tʰi˥]/Tone: 55

剔

tīti1

¯(55)

=tī

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "i" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: t sound

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Explosive puff of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST flutter.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip taps against the alveolar ridge just behind the upper front teeth, then releases a strong burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: ee sound in see

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ee'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, steady pitch, identical to singing a high note continuously without changing pitch.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with the 4th tone tì (snot, tear down), which drops sharply in pitch.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Keep your hand flat and steady at a high pitch near your forehead, like a high horizontal plateau.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

4. Components

Radical 刂 · Knife Radical (knife, cutting tool, blade)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 刂 (indicates cutting, scraping, or separating action using a blade)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 易 (original sound: yì / tī)

A sharp knife (刂) is used to carefully extract or change (易) what is embedded, scraping meat off bone or weeding out the bad.

刂 knife/blade (semantic indicator)
易 easy/change (phonetic indicator)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

10· Phonetic Root: 易 (yì)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the knife radical (刂) representing cutting or scraping, and 易 as the phonetic component which also suggests separating or shifting.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring to butchery tasks like carving or scraping meat off bones, its meaning expanded to picking teeth and metaphorically weeding out or eliminating bad elements.

In traditional Chinese culinary arts, 'tī' is an essential knife technique for preparing boneless cuts of meat.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture a chef holding a sharp knife (刂) making it EASY (易) to scrape every last bit of meat off the bone.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

易

yìeasy / changePhonetic Core (声旁)

踢

tīto kick+ 足 (foot)

惕

tìfearful; respectful+ 忄 (heart)

赐

cìconfer, bestow, grant+ 贝 (shell)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

易(yì)

Lacks the vertical knife radical (刂) on the left side.

梯(tī)

Replaces the knife radical with the wood radical (木), meaning ladder.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

吃排骨的时候，他用牙签[___]牙缝里的肉渣。

Clue: tī

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing it with 梯 (tī - ladder) because they share the same pronunciation, or forgetting the knife radical (刂) on the left.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 剔 with a knife radical and the sound tī, what action does it describe?

Production: How do you write the character meaning 'to scrape meat from bones or pick teeth' (tī)?

剔tīto scrape, to pick, to weed out

Speed:

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