矮 (ǎi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

矮

ǎi[ai3]Tone 3

short, low

HSK 4

Guru Deep Dive

English · short, low

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (矢) narrow and compact on the left side, and allot slightly more horizontal width to the right component (委) to prevent the character from feeling lopsided.

1. Meaning

short (of height)

low (of objects like walls or fences)inferior or lower in rank

AdjectiveNeutral#physical dimensions#height#measurements

Sample Usage

他个子很矮。
Tā gèzi hěn ǎi.
He is very short.
这堵墙比较矮。
Zhè dǔ qiáng bǐjiào ǎi.
This wall is relatively low.

2. Sound

/[aɪ̯²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

矮

ǎiai3

ˇ(214)

=ǎi

Initial Consonant

∅

Type: Zero Initial (Pure Vowel)

Sounds like: y / w

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Starts directly on the vowel sound without consonant obstruction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Open vocal tract directly into the target vowel shape.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ai rhymes with the word 'eye'

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

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

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips down in pitch like expressing hesitant disbelief or asking 'really?' in English ('You won?'), then rises.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 3, ǎi changes to a Tone 2 (rising 35), sounding like ái.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the low-dipping Tone 3 (ǎi) with Tone 4 (ài), which drops sharply from high to low without rising.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark or a dip-and-rise curve in the air with your finger, starting mid, dropping low, and rising up.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

4. Components

Radical 矢 · Arrow Radical (arrow)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 矢 (indicates a short dart or arrow, symbolizing small physical length)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 委 (original sound: wěi / ǎi phonetic family link through ancient rhymes)

An arrow (矢) combined with a woman/grain bundle symbol representing submission or leaning downward (委), creating the idea of something being squeezed down, short, or low.

矢 Arrow radical on the left
委 Commissions or bends component on the right

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

9· Phonetic Root: 委 (wěi)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined '矢' (arrow, which is short compared to a spear) with '委' (bent down), depicting something that is bent or physically low in stature.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from the specific image of a short arrow or bent posture to a general adjective describing short height in humans and low vertical dimensions in physical structures.

In ancient texts, it frequently described short implements before generalizing to people.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

ải

Mandarin Tone 3 corresponds to the Vietnamese hỏi tone.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: アイ (ai) / Kun: ひくい (hikui)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

왜

Sound Shift Bridge: The vowel sound 'ai' in pinyin mirrors the English diphthong in 'eye'.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a tiny archer whose shooting arrow (矢) is so extraordinarily short and bent (委) that it can only travel a few inches before hitting the ground because everything about it is short (ǎi).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

委

wěito committee, entrust, bendWithout the arrow radical on the left, it is just the component for giving or bending.

逶

wēiwinding, meanderingAdds the walking movement radical (辶) to describe a winding road.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

委(wěi)

委 lacks the arrow radical (矢) on the left side.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

弟弟比哥哥长得要[___]一些。

Clue: ǎi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing ǎi (short in height) with shǎo (few/little in quantity) or xiǎo (small in size). Remember 矮 specifically refers to vertical height or low elevation.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 矮, what physical dimension does it describe?

Production: How do you write the character for 'short' (height) using the arrow radical?

矮ǎishort, low

Speed:

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