How to Write 舄 (xì) — Meaning “ancient style shoe”

Imagine a mortar (臼) sitting on top of a shoe with a thick sole and four decorative tassels (the bottom strokes). The mortar looks like a heavy weight pressing down, reminding you that 舄 is an old-fashioned shoe.

Write the top radical 臼 first (6 strokes), then the middle cover 冖 (2 strokes), and finally the four dots 灬 (4 strokes). A common mistake is making the bottom dots too large or separate – they should be evenly spaced and connected to the cover above.

舄 (xì) has a top part 臼 and a bottom that looks like 冖 plus 灬, while 舀 (yǎo) has a hand claw 爫 above 臼, and 舂 (chōng) has two hands 廾 above 臼. Visually, 舄 is the only one with four dots at the bottom.

舄 is very rare in modern Chinese and mostly appears in classical texts, poetry, or historical terms. It can be found in words like 舄履 (shoes and sandals) and 舄奕 (grand and lasting), but you will not encounter it in daily conversation or HSK vocabulary.

Common words containing 舄 include: 舄履 (xì lǚ) — shoes and sandals; 舄奕 (xì yì) — grand and lasting for generations; 乌舄 (wū xì) — black magpie / black bird.