How to Write 裥 (jiǎn) — Meaning “Pleat; fold”

Picture a piece of cloth (衤) that has been folded between two walls (think of 间 as a door with a sun and moon, but simplify it as a room with spaces). The folds create intervals like rooms, so remember 'clothes with room-like folds' to recall 裥 meaning pleat.

Write the left radical 衤 first with 5 strokes (dot, horizontal stroke, vertical stroke, left-falling, vertical hook), then the right part 间 with 7 strokes (dot, vertical fold, horizontal, vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, vertical). A common mistake is making the right side too wide or mixing up the order of the inner strokes. Keep the left side narrow and the right side balanced.

裥 (jiǎn) means 'pleat' and has the right component 间. 袍 (páo) means 'robe' and has the right component 包 (bāo), and 袒 (tǎn) means 'to bare' and has the right component 旦 (dàn). Visually, the right sides are completely different: 间 looks like a door frame, 包 looks like a wrapped bundle, and 旦 looks like a sun above a line.

裥 is used mainly in fashion and garment contexts to describe pleats, as in 裙裥 (skirt pleats) and 打裥 (to make pleats). It is not a common daily character but appears in sewing instructions and clothing descriptions. Culturally, pleats have been a feature in traditional Chinese clothing like the cheongsam, where 裥 helps create elegant draping.

Common words containing 裥 include: 裙裥 (qún jiǎn) — Pleats of a skirt; 褶裥 (zhě jiǎn) — pleat; fold; 打裥 (dǎ jiǎn) — to make pleats.