How to Write 垯 (da) — Meaning “mound; small hill”

Picture a small mound of earth (土) that you can easily reach (达) by taking a short walk. The "reach" part reminds you that the hill is small and not steep. You can also think of "Da" like a name, and imagine Da standing on a little mound.

The left radical 土 must be written narrow and tall, with the horizontal stroke shorter than the one in 达 on the right. The right part 达 starts with 大 (big) then the walk radical 辶; do not mix up the order — write 大 fully before adding the 辶. A common mistake is making the left side too wide or the right side unbalanced.

垯 has the phonetic component 达 and means a small mound. 圻 (qí) uses 斤 (axe) instead, and means a boundary or border of land. 圼 is very rare and has 日 (sun) in it, possibly referring to a mound shaped like the sun or an ancient variant; it is not interchangeable with 垯. Visually, 圻 has the radical 斤 on the right, while 圼 has 日 inside 土.

垯 is not part of the common HSK vocabulary and appears mainly in local dialects or place names describing small hills or mounds, like 山垯 (shān da) for hilltop or 垯子 (da zi) for a small mound. You may encounter it in rural contexts or in literature describing landscape features, but it is rarely used in everyday conversation.

Common words containing 垯 include: 垯子 (da zi) — small mound; 垯地 (da dì) — hilly land; 山垯 (shān da) — Hilltop.