How to Write 嫠 (lí) — Meaning “Widow.”

Imagine a woman (女) standing alone, with the top part 未 looking like an X that marks her husband as gone. The shape of 未 can remind you of "no more" — the woman has no more husband, so she is a widow.

Write the top 未 first: three horizontal strokes (short, long, short) then a vertical stroke through the center. Then add 女 below, starting with the left slant, right slant, and finally the horizontal stroke. Keep the bottom 女 centered under 未, and the vertical stroke of 未 should align with the middle of 女.

嫠 has the top 未 (meaning "not"), while 婷 has the top 亭 (meaning "pavilion") and describes graceful beauty, not a widow. 婺 has the top 矛 (spear) and is a star or name, unrelated to widows. The radical 女 is shared, but the upper parts are completely different.

嫠 is a classical word rarely used in everyday speech; it mainly appears in literary works, historical texts, or fixed phrases like 嫠妇 (widow) and 嫠忧 (deep concern for the country). It carries a poetic, sorrowful tone, so you might see it in classical poetry to emphasize loneliness or patriotic grief.

Common words containing 嫠 include: 嫠妇 (lí fù) — Widow.; 嫠忧 (lí yōu) — A widow's grief; concern for the country's fate.; 孤嫠 (gū lí) — widow.