插
Tap the pinyin to hear it
to insert; stick in; pierce; to take part in; to interfere; to interpose
- HSK 3.0
- Level 5
- Old HSK
- Level 5
- Strokes
- 12
- Radical
- 手 +9
- Structure
- Left–right 左右
- Traditional
- 插
- Common rank
- #1,171
- Unicode
- U+63D2
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 插 is formed
Phono-semantic compound (形声字)
扌 meaning “hand” + 臿 sound ()
Components 扌 臿
How to remember it
insert · Heisig RSH #2958
fingers + 千 thousand + mortar
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 插
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 插不上手 | to be unable to intervene | |
| 气管插管术 | endotracheal intubation (medicine) | |
| 不插电 | unplugged (of rock musicians performing on acoustic instruments) | |
| 有意栽花花不发，无心插柳柳成阴 | lit. you plant a garden and the flowers do not bloom, you poke a stick in the mud and it g… | |
| 无心插柳柳成阴 | lit. idly poke a stick in the mud and it grows into a tree to shade you; (fig.) unintentio… | |
| 无心插柳 | (idiom) (of a good outcome) unanticipated; serendipitous; fortuitous | |
| 电源插座 | electric socket; power point | |
| 插入语 | interjection | |
| 插入因子 | (genetics) insertion element | |
| 插线板 | power strip; powerboard (with multiple electrical sockets) | |
| 插卡式 | (of a device, e.g. public telephone, ticket inspection machine) designed to have a card or… | |
| 小插曲 | episode; brief interlude | |
| 倒插门 | (of the husband) to marry into and live with the wife's family (inverting traditional Chin… | |
| 直插式 | (of a connector etc) inline | |
| 插头 | plug | |
| 插座板 | power strip | |
| 插花 | flower arranging; ikebana | |
| 插上 | to plug into; to insert; to stick in | |
| 安插 | to place in a certain position; to assign to a job; to plant; resettlement (old) | |
| 插手 | to get involved in; to meddle; interference |
Sound family
Characters sharing the sound component 臿 — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 臿 sound part | to separate the grain from the husk | |
| 歃 | to drink to an oath | |
| 锸 | spade, shovel; marking pin |