How to Write 啼 (tí) — Meaning “to cry; to weep; (of birds) to chirp”

Imagine a crying emperor (帝) opening his mouth (口) to wail loudly. The picture of a royal person weeping helps link the components to the meaning of crying or chirping.

Pay attention to the right side 帝: it has 9 strokes, starting with the top dot, then horizontal, then the narrow 巾 at the bottom. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the small dot on top.

啼 has mouth (口) on left with 帝 on right, meaning cry or chirp. 㕡 (hè) is extremely rare, with 口 below 隺, meaning a gully or ravine. 哥 (gē) means older brother, with two 可 stacked, not related to mouth sounds.

啼 is used in words like 啼哭 (cry wail) for human crying, or 鸟啼 (birdsong) for bird chirping. It appears in classical poetry and idioms, like 啼笑皆非 (not know whether to laugh or cry), but is less common in everyday speech than 哭.

Common words containing 啼 include: 啼哭 (tí kū) — to cry; to wail; 鸟啼 (niǎo tí) — birdsong; 啼叫 (tí jiào) — to cry; to crow; to chirp.