义 yì justice; righteousness; meaning

Made up of [丿 piě 'slash' radical 4, 丶 zhǔ dot radical 3]
Alternative traditional form of character: 義
Made with 3 strokes.
Much simplified from original form showing an aggressive person being made as docile as a sheep. Modern form is balanced and symmetric
Ancient small seal form Small seal

Related characters


Also uses 丿 piě component: 必 bì (certainly) 弟 dì (younger brother) ; 乎 hū (at) ; 久 jiǔ (long time) ; 九 jiǔ (nine) ; 乐 lè (music) ; 么 me (what) ; 乃 nǎi (to be) ; 年 nián (year) ; 少 shǎo (less) ; 生 shēng (produce) ; 失 shī (to lose) ; 勿 wù (do not) ; 戊 wù (fifth (ordinal)) ; 午 wǔ (noon) ; 之 zhī (him) ; 族 zú (clan)
Also uses 丶 zhǔ component: 白 bái (bright) 半 bàn (half) ; 冰 bīng (ice) ; 弟 dì (younger brother) ; 兑 duì (to cash) ; 丽 lì (beautiful) ; 良 liáng (good) ; 令 lìng (to order) ; 铺 pù (store) ; 勺 sháo (spoon) ; 术 shù (method) ; 苏 sū (revive) ; 太 tài (too) ; 往 wǎng (towards) ; 为 wèi (do) ; 乌 wū (crow) ; 尤 yóu (outstanding) ; 玉 yù (jade) ; 州 zhōu (prefecture) ; 住 zhù (to live) ; 主 zhǔ (owner) ; 自 zì (from)

Sounds same

易 yì (easy) ; 亿 yì (100,000,000) ; 益 yì ; 亦 yì (also) ; 邑 yì (city) ; 弋 yì (catch) ; 艺 yì (skill) ; 忆 yì (to recollect) ; 意 yì (idea) ; 异 yì (different)

Different tone

一 yī (one) ; 医 yī (doctor) ; 衤 yī (clothes) ; 衣 yī (clothes) ; 颐 yí ; 宜 yí (proper) ; 夷 yí (barbarians) ; 乚 yǐ (hidden) ; 以 yǐ (to use) ; 椅 yǐ (chair) ; 已 yǐ (already) ; 乙 yǐ (twist)

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stroke order for 义
Stroke order for character 义, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚

Cities

遵义 Zunyi, Guizhou
义乌 Yiwu, Zhejiang

Proverbs

见义勇为 jiàn yì yǒng wéi To see what is right and act with courage
忘恩负义 wàng ēn fù yì Ungratefully forget to acknowledge a favor.
大义灭亲 dà yì miè qīn Prepared to kill one's own family to keep to the law. Back in the Spring and Autumn Period a father, Shi Que, uncovered the murder of the king of Wei was done by a treasonous group which included his own son Shi Hou. Believing he could not show him special treatment he had him executed.
多行不义必自毙 duō xíng bù yì bì zì bì Turning to bad deeds will ultimately bring ruin. This is a form of Karma - divine justice will catch up with you one day