How to Write 颉 (jié/xié) — Meaning “to fly upwards / (used in names)”

Imagine a lucky head (吉 + 页) that suddenly flies upwards into the sky. Or think of Cangjie (仓颉), the legendary inventor of characters, whose lucky head (吉) was full of ideas that flew upwards. This visual helps link the shape to the meaning.

Keep the left part 吉 narrow and the right part 页 slightly wider, with the bottom of both sides aligned horizontally. A common mistake is making the left side too big or the strokes of 页 too cramped. The stroke order is left side first (吉: 6 strokes) then right side (页: 6 strokes).

颉 has 吉 (lucky) on the left, while 顼 has 玉 (jade) and 顽 has 元 (first). The meanings also differ: 颉 relates to flying or names, 顼 is found in ancient names like 颛顼, and 顽 means 'stubborn'. So focus on the left component to distinguish them.

颉 appears most often in the name 仓颉 (Cāng Jié), the legendary inventor of Chinese characters. It is also used in the literary word 颉颃 (xié háng), meaning 'to fly up and down' or 'to be equally matched'. Outside of these, you will rarely see 颉 in everyday conversation.

Common words containing 颉 include: 仓颉 (cāng jié) — Cangjie (legendary inventor of Chinese characters); 颉颃 (xié háng) — to fly up and down / to compete / to be equally matched.