撇 (piē) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

撇

piē[pie1]Tone 1

to cast away

HSK 7

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to cast away

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:15

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left hand radical (扌) compact and narrow, leaving plenty of generous space for the complex right-hand phonetic component.

1. Meaning

to cast away, to fling aside, to abandon

to skim (liquid)a left-falling stroke in Chinese calligraphy (Piě)

VerbNeutral#action#calligraphy#movement

Sample Usage

撇开
piēkāi
to set aside, to leave out
撇沫
piēmò
to skim off foam

2. Sound

/[pʰi̯e⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

撇

piēpie1

¯(55)

=piē

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

pie

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: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound as in 'pat'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed together tightly before releasing a burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -ie rhymes with '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 is a high, sustained musical note, identical to maintaining a steady high-pitched 'ah' without any rise or fall.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse piē (Tone 1) with pié (Tone 2), as the pitch direction completely changes the word.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat line drawn across the top of your visual field, like a high-altitude airplane cruising steadily.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 15 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left hand radical (扌) compact and narrow, leaving plenty of generous space for the complex right-hand phonetic component.

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand Radical (hand, physical action)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (indicates an action performed with the hand (casting or flinging away))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 敝 (original sound: bi/pie)

A hand (扌) reaches out to toss away something worn out or tattered (敝).

扌 hand component showing physical action
敝 phonetic and semantic hint meaning worn out or discarded

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

10· Phonetic Root: 敝 (bì)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) representing physical tossing and 敝 representing ruined things that need to be cast away.

Semantic Evolution: Originally meant to discard worn things, later extended to skimming liquids and also adopted as the technical term for the left-falling calligraphy stroke.

In calligraphy theory, the 'piě' stroke itself is considered the most dynamic stroke, embodying elegance and sweeping motion.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

With your hand (扌), you take your tattered, worn-out shoes (敝) and cast them away into the trash.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

敝

bìmy (polite); poorPhonetic Core (声旁)

憋

biēto choke, to stifle, to hold back+ 心 (heart)

蔽

bìto cover; to shield+ 艹 (plants)

幣

+ 巾 (cloth)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

蔽(bì)

蔽 has the grass top (艹) meaning vegetation covering something, while 撇 has the hand (扌) meaning throwing something away.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我们在讨论问题时，应该把无关的细节[___]开。

Clue: piē

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the high level tone (Tone 1, piē) with other tones, or confusing the character with visually similar components like 敝 and 蔽.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 撇 mean when paired with the hand radical (扌) and phonetic 敝?

Production: How do you write the verb meaning 'to cast away' or 'to fling aside' using Pinyin piē?

撇piēto cast away

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