凄
Tap the pinyin to hear it
intense cold; frigid; dismal; grim; bleak; sad; mournful; also written 淒|凄[qi1]
- HSK 3.0
- Level 7–9
- Old HSK
- Level 6
- Strokes
- 10
- Radical
- 冫 +8
- Structure
- Left–right 左右
- Traditional
- 凄
- Common rank
- #2,059
- Unicode
- U+51C4
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How to remember it
miserable · Heisig RSH #2210
ice + 妻 wife
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 凄
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 凄风苦雨 | lit. bleak wind and icy rain (idiom); fig. hardships; miserable circumstances | |
| 凄美 | poignant; sad and beautiful | |
| 凄清 | somber; cheerless | |
| 凄然 | distressed | |
| 风雨凄凄 | wretched wind and rain | |
| 凄苦 | bleak; miserable | |
| 凄切 | mournful | |
| 凄暗 | dismal; somber | |
| 凄迷 | pained and bewildered | |
| 凄迷 | dreary and fuzzy (sight) | |
| 凄寒 | cold and desolate | |
| 凄凉 | mournful; miserable | |
| 凄凉 | desolate (place) | |
| 凄哀 | desolate; mournful | |
| 悲凄 | pitiable; sorrowful | |
| 凄楚 | sad; wretched; miserable | |
| 凄惨 | plaintive; mournful; miserable | |
| 凄梗 | (literary) wailing; choking with sobs | |
| 凄凄 | cold and dismal | |
| 凄厉 | mournful (sound) |
Sound family
Characters sharing the sound component 妻 — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 妻 sound part | wife | |
| 萋 | luxuriant foliage |