义

Tap the pinyin to hear it

justice; righteousness; meaning; foster (father etc); adopted; artificial (tooth, limb etc); relationship; friendship

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

⺷ meaning “sheep; simplified form of 義” + 乂 sound ( yì )

Components 丶乂

righteousness · Heisig RSH #1180

sheaf + a drop of — as a component also called: bouquet

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
中国中心主义	Zhōng guó zhōng xīn zhǔ yì	Sinocentrism
义马市	Yì mǎ Shì	Yima, a county-level city in Sanmenxia City 三門峽市\|三门峡市[San1 men2 xia2 Shi4], Henan
安义县	Ān yì Xiàn	Anyi, a county in Nanchang City 南昌市[Nan2 chang1 Shi4], Jiangxi
义安区	Yì ān Qū	Yi'an, a district of Tongling City 銅陵市\|铜陵市[Tong2 ling2 Shi4], Anhui
不义	bù yì	injustice
国家主义	guó jiā zhǔ yì	nationalism; statism
大义	dà yì	righteousness; virtuous cause; a woman's marriage; main points of a piece of writing
义子	yì zǐ	adopted son
义人	yì rén	righteous man
义县	Yì Xiàn	Yi County or Yixian, a county in Jinzhou City 錦州市\|锦州市[Jin3 zhou1 Shi4], Liaoning
义大利	Yì dà lì	(Tw) Italy
义大利面	yì dà lì miàn	(Tw) spaghetti; pasta
人文主义	rén wén zhǔ yì	humanism
义学	yì xué	free school (old)
法西斯主义	fǎ xī sī zhǔ yì	fascism
天体主义	tiān tǐ zhǔ yì	nudism
行动主义	xíng dòng zhǔ yì	activism
无义	wú yì	without meaning; nonsense; immoral; faithless
人道主义	rén dào zhǔ yì	humanism; humanitarian (aid)
机会主义	jī huì zhǔ yì	opportunism; pragmatism

Characters sharing the sound component 乂 — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
乂 sound part	yì	to govern; to control; to nurture
艾	ài	mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris; used in transliterations
肴	yáo	cooked or prepared meat
刈	yì	to cut off, to reap, to mow; sickle