ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

倚 yǐ to rely on

to rely on; to depend on; to lean on

How to remember 倚: 亻 person + 奇 strange = to rely on. After knee surgery the old person has only his strange purple cane, the one thing left to rely on.

  • HSK 7
  • 10 strokes
  • Radical 亻

Component breakdown

倚 = 亻 person + 奇 strange

  • 亻 person
  • 奇 strange
    • 大 big
    • 可 may
      • 丁 nail
      • 口 mouth
The Gushi story

After knee surgery the old person has only his strange purple cane, the one thing left to rely on.

How it is used

  • To lean on physically or to rely/bank on - 倚着墙 (yǐzhe qiáng) to lean against a wall, 倚靠 (yǐkào) to lean on/depend on.
  • The 'rely' sense often carries an edge of leaning on power unfairly - 倚仗 (yǐzhàng) to rely on backing, 倚老卖老 to trade on one's seniority.
  • More literary than 靠 (kào), which covers the same ground in everyday speech.