How to Write 跌 (diē) — Meaning “to fall; to tumble”

Imagine a person walking on the street (足) when they suddenly "lose" (失) their footing and fall down. The combination of "foot" and "lose" visually suggests tripping and tumbling, which is easy to recall.

The left radical 足 has a specific stroke order: first the vertical stroke, then the horizontal, then the two vertical strokes, and finally the horizontal ending. The right part 失 should be narrower and slightly higher than the left; a common mistake is making both halves equal in width, which ruins the character's balance.

趵 (bào) means "to kick" or "to stamp" and has the sound component 勺, while 趸 (dǔn) means "to store" or "wholesale" with the component 屯. Unlike 跌, both 趵 and 趸 are rare and not used for falling; 跌 is the standard word for physically falling down or dropping in value.

跌 is commonly used in expressions like 跌倒 (fall down) for physical falls, and 跌落 (drop) for prices or status. In Chinese culture, 跌 is also used figuratively in phrases like 跌破眼镜 (to break one's glasses), meaning something is so surprising it shocks you.

Common words containing 跌 include: 跌倒 (diē dǎo) — to fall down; 跌落 (diē luò) — to fall down; to drop; 跌破 (diē pò) — to fall below (a level); to break by falling.