How to Write 略 (lüè) — Meaning “Brief, slight, or strategy”

Imagine a farmer who briefly looks over each (各) field (田) and makes a slight plan for planting. The picture of scanning fields quickly helps recall both 'brief' and 'strategy'. This connects the components to the character's key meanings.

Write the left component 田 first with balanced proportions, then the right component 各 starting with the top stroke. A common mistake is making 田 too wide or forgetting the short horizontal stroke inside 各's 'mouth' part. Keep the character compact and even.

畈 (fàn) means 'field' or 'farmland' and is very rare today, while 畋 (tián) means 'to hunt'. Unlike these, 略 (lüè) is common in HSK 6 vocabulary and means 'brief', 'slight', or 'strategy'. Visually, 略 has the right component 各, while 畈 has 反 and 畋 has 攵.

略 appears in formal and written Chinese, such as 忽略 (to ignore) and 策略 (strategy). It is also used in phrases like 略微 (slightly) to express small degrees. Cultural note: 略 is key in military classics like Sun Tzu's Art of War, where 策略 means 'tactical plan'.

Common words containing 略 include: 忽略 (hū lüè) — to ignore; to neglect; to overlook; 策略 (cè lüè) — Strategy; tactics; 略微 (lüè wēi) — Slightly.