How to Write 趯 (tì) — Meaning “to jump; (calligraphy) a hook stroke”

Imagine a person (走) who sees a pheasant (翟) and jumps in surprise. The left side looks like a runner, and the right side resembles a bird with feathers - together they create the idea of leaping.

Write the left radical 走 first, with its last stroke stretching to the right. Then write the right side 翟: start with the top 羽 (like two feathers) and then the bottom 隹 (bird). A common mistake is making the left side too narrow - the 走 radical should be wide enough to support the complex right side.

趯 means to jump, while 趱 (zǎn) means to hurry or urge forward. Visually, 趯 has the right side 翟 (a pheasant with two feather-like strokes on top), whereas 趱 has 贊 (which includes components like 先 and 貝), so the top parts are very different.

In modern Chinese, 趯 is rarely used in daily conversation, mainly appearing in classical literature or calligraphy. In calligraphy, 趯 refers to a hook stroke, a curved flick at the end of a brush movement, especially in regular script. You might also encounter it in phrases like 趯然 (tì rán) meaning jumping or leaping.

Common words containing 趯 include: 趯然 (tì rán) — jumping; leaping; 趯跳 (tì tiào) — to jump; to leap; 趯起 (tì qǐ) — to kick up; to jump up.