捏 (niē) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

捏

niē[nie1]Tone 1

to pinch, mold, or fabricate

HSK 7

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to pinch, mold, or fabricate

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand component) should be slightly narrower and compressed to leave ample space for the right phonetic component, keeping the overall width balanced.

1. Meaning

to hold between the thumb and fingers, pinch, or mold

to hold in one's hand (literally or figuratively)to join togetherto fabricate or concoct a story or report

VerbNeutral#action#hands#creation#deception

Sample Usage

他用手指捏着一张纸。
tā yòng shǒuzhǐ niē zhe yì zhāng zhǐ.
He is holding a piece of paper between his fingers.
不要凭空捏造事实。
bú yào píngkōng niēzào shìshí.
Do not fabricate facts out of thin air.

2. Sound

/[ni̯e⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

捏

niēnie1

¯(55)

=niē

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

nie

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

Initial Consonant

Type: Alveolar Nasal

Sounds like: n sound like in 'no'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Air passes completely through nose.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth for the nasal consonant, then drops quickly for the vowel.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: ie rhymes with 'yeh' in yes

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

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, similar to the sustained high note when singing or saying 'ahhh' at a high pitch.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing it with falling tone (niè) or dipping tone (niě); ensure the pitch remains level and high.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat horizontal chop in the air, matching a high-pitched steady musical note.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand component) should be slightly narrower and compressed to leave ample space for the right phonetic component, keeping the overall width balanced.

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand Radical (Hand, manual actions)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates that the action is performed using the hand or fingers.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 𠫓 (original sound: niē)

The Hand radical (扌) on the left teams up with the upper-lower component (𠫓) on the right to show fingers shaping or squeezing something.

扌 Hand action
𠫓 Phonetic and structural support indicating shape or folding

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 圼

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) representing grasping actions and a phonetic element giving the pronunciation niē.

Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting the physical action of using fingers to pinch or shape malleable materials like clay, it expanded to figurative grasping and fabricating stories out of thin air.

The character bridges tactile manual arts (like pottery molding) with abstract concepts like inventing rumors.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use your HAND (扌) to gently PINGH and MOLD a delicate figure, saying 'KNEE-EH!' every time you press your fingers together.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

圼

Phonetic Core (声旁)

涅

niè(literary) alunite (formerly used as a black dye); (literary) to dye black+ 氵 (water)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

跌(diē)

Has the foot radical (足) instead of hand (扌) and means to fall.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

她用手指[___]了一只可爱的小兔子。

Clue: niē

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the hand radical (扌) with other similar left-side radicals like the water or heart radical.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 捏, what hand action does it immediately evoke?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to pinch or mold' using the hand radical?

捏niēto pinch, mold, or fabricate

Speed:

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