贼
Tap the pinyin to hear it
thief; robber; (bound form) traitor; subversive; (bound form) evil; wicked; sly; shifty; devious; (literary) to harm; to injure; (coll.) extremely; insanely; damn (common in NE China and Taiwan)
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 贼
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 老家贼 | (dialect) sparrow | |
| 汉贼不两立 | lit. Shu Han 蜀漢|蜀汉[Shu3 Han4] and Cao Wei 曹魏[Cao2 Wei4] cannot coexist (idiom); fig. two e… | |
| 海贼王 | One Piece (manga and anime) | |
| 民贼独夫 | tyrant and oppressor of the people (idiom); traitorous dictator | |
| 独夫民贼 | tyrant and oppressor of the people (idiom); traitorous dictator | |
| 上贼船 | lit. to board a pirate ship (idiom); fig. to associate with criminals | |
| 山贼 | brigand | |
| 国贼 | traitor to the nation | |
| 贼心 | evil intentions | |
| 卖国贼 | traitor | |
| 马贼 | horse thief; (old) group of horse-mounted bandits | |
| 海贼 | pirate | |
| 吸血乌贼 | vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) | |
| 做贼心虚 | to feel guilty as a thief (idiom); to have sth on one's conscience | |
| 工贼 | strikebreaker; scab; traitor to the working class | |
| 贼眼 | shifty gaze; furtive glance | |
| 作贼 | to be a thief | |
| 贼眉鼠眼 | shifty-eyed; crafty-looking (idiom) | |
| 反贼 | (imperial China) rebel; traitor; (post-1949) enemy of the state; counter-revolutionary; (s… | |
| 贼死 | completely; utterly (dialect) |
Sound family
Characters sharing the sound component 贝 — compare how they read.