移 (yí) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

移

yí[yi2]Tone 2

to move

HSK 4

Guru Deep Dive

English · to move

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the grain/harvest radical) should be narrower and slightly compressed, leaving enough open horizontal space for the complex multi-stroke right component (duō/multitude).

1. Meaning

to move, shift, or change position

to alter or changeto remove or transfer

VerbNeutral#movement#action#location change

Sample Usage

请把桌子移一下。
Qǐng bǎ zhuōzi yí yīxià.
Please move the table a bit.
移居国外
yíjū guówài
to migrate abroad

2. Sound

/[i²³⁵]/Tone: 35

移

yíyi2

´(35)

=yí

Initial Consonant

Type: Palatal Glide (Zero Initial)

Sounds like: Zero initial (starts directly with the vowel sound)

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Acts as a bridge into 'i' or 'ü' vowel sounds.

Tongue & Mouth Position: No initial consonant obstruction; tongue starts directly in the high-front position for the vowel 'i'.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: -ee as in 'see'

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises like a questioning English 'What?' or a rising staircase.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2 syllable, it undergoes normal Tone 2 sandhi rules if applicable in fast speech, though it primarily remains a rising Tone 2.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rising Tone 2 (yí) with Tone 1 (yī) or Tone 4 (yì). Make sure the pitch starts mid and climbs clearly to the top.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A quick hand gesture moving upward from left to right, matching the rising pitch contour of Tone 2.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

4. Components

Radical 禾 · Grain Radical (cereal plant, grain, harvest)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 禾 (indicates agriculture or grain processing context historically)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 多 (original sound: duō / yí)

Grain (禾) plus many/multiple (多) - representing gathering and moving harvested grain from one place to another.

禾 Grain radical on the left
多 Phonetic and structural component on the right

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the grain radical (禾) to denote agricultural relocation or shifting harvested crops, paired with a phonetic element.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from physically moving harvested grain to any general action of moving, shifting, altering, or transferring objects and locations.

In ancient times, moving grain bundles from the fields to the granary was a crucial community activity.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: イ (i) / Kun: うつ.る (utsu.ru), うつ.す (utsu.su)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

이

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

To **move** a mountain of harvested **grain** (禾) takes **many** (多) workers shifting it piece by piece.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

移

yíto moveBase character with grain radical

多

duōmanyWithout the grain radical on the left

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

多(duō)

多 means 'many' and lacks the grain radical (禾) found on the left side of 移.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

请把这张桌子[___]到那边去。

Clue: yí

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting the left radical 禾 and confusing the character with 多, or misapplying Tone 4 (yì) instead of Tone 2 (yí).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 移 mean and how is it pronounced with tones?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to move/shift' (yí) using the grain radical?

移yíto move

Speed:

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