揭 (jiē) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

揭

jiē[jie1]Tone 1

to uncover, expose, or take the lid off

HSK 6

Guru Deep Dive

English · to uncover, expose, or take the lid off

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (扌 hand radical) should be slightly narrower and compressed to leave ample room for the complex right component (曷), maintaining overall visual equilibrium.

1. Meaning

to take the lid off, to expose, to unmask

surname Jieto hoist or raise (as in a banner)

VerbNeutral#action#discovery#disclosure

Sample Usage

揭开
jiē kāi
to uncover, to reveal
揭发
jiē fā
to expose, to inform against

2. Sound

/[tɕi̯e˥˥]/Tone: 55

揭

jiējie1

¯(55)

=jiē

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Alveolo-Palatal

Sounds like: like the 'j' in 'jeep' (alveolo-palatal affricate)

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff. Lips spread wide like smiling.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Blade of the tongue touches the hard palate, releasing gently into a tight fricative channel behind the upper teeth.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes roughly with the 'ye' 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 stays constantly high and level, comparable to the high pitch used when calling out 'Hey!' in surprise.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the high level tone (Tone 1, jiē) with the rising tone (Tone 2, jié) or dipping tone (Tone 3, jiě). Listen carefully for the flat, unmoving pitch.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat-level gesture in the air, imagining a singer holding a high, steady note at the very top of their vocal range.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand radical (hand, manual action)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (indicates an action performed with the hand (lifting, taking off))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 曷 (original sound: hé / jiē)

Combining the Hand radical (扌) on the left with the phonetic/semantic component 'Hé' (曷) on the right creates an image of using your hands to lift or expose something.

扌 Hand action
曷 Phonetic and structural component meaning 'to stop' or supplying sound

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

15· Phonetic Root: 曷 (hé)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed by pairing the hand radical (扌) to show physical action with the phonetic element 曷, denoting the act of lifting a cover or lid off a container.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from physically lifting physical lids to abstractly uncovering secrets, exposing corruption, or unmasking truths.

The right-hand side 曷 acts as a phonetic anchor while carrying its own ancient connotations of interrogating or halting.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ケツ (ketsu) / ゲツ (getsu)

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

With your HAND (扌), you reach out to lift the LID off a pot, EXPOSING what was hidden inside to the world (jiē).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

渴

kěthirstyUses the water radical (氵) instead of hand (扌) because thirst relates to water needs.

揭

jiēto uncoverUses the hand radical (扌) because uncovering requires a hand movement.

羯

jiégelded ramUses the sheep/ram radical (⺶/羊) on the left.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

渴(kě)

Check the left side: 氵 (water) means thirsty, while 扌 (hand) means to uncover or expose.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我们要把事情的真相[___]出来。

Clue: jiē fā

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the hand radical (扌) with the water radical (氵), leading to mixing up 揭 (jiē) with 渴 (kě).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 揭, what does it mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to expose / take the lid off' with pinyin jiē?

揭jiēto uncover, expose, or take the lid off

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