How to Write 楔 (xiē) — Meaning “wedge”

Imagine a wooden wedge (木) that you hit with a hammer to split a log, and the sound it makes is "xiē" – like the "契" part looks like a crack forming. You can also think of "wood (木) plus a cut (契) equals a wedge."

The left radical 木 is narrower, and the right part 契 must be wider to balance the character. A common mistake is to forget the horizontal stroke inside 契 or to make the 木 too large – keep the left side compact and write 契 stroke by stroke from top to bottom.

Unlike 楔 (wedge), 桫 (suō) refers to a type of tree called the "cyathea" or a kind of palm, and 桲 (bó) is a fruit tree, specifically the quince. Visually, 桫 has 沙 (sand) on the right, while 桲 has 孛 (comet or be bright), so their right parts are completely different from 契 (qì) in 楔.

楔 most often appears in the word 楔子 (xiē zi), which can mean a physical wedge or, more commonly in literature, a prologue or introductory section of a novel or play. It is not a high-frequency character, so you will mainly see it in technical contexts about tools or in the structure of traditional Chinese stories.

Common words containing 楔 include: 楔子 (xiē zi) — wedge / prologue; 木楔 (mù xiē) — wooden wedge; 楔入 (xiē rù) — to wedge in.