How to Write 乂 (yì) — Meaning “To govern, nurture, or a rare character meaning 'to mow'.”

Picture the character as a pair of open scissors or two crossed blades. The crossing lines remind you of cutting grass (to mow) or slicing through problems (to govern). This visual trick makes the rare character unforgettable.

Write the left-falling stroke from top to bottom-left first, then the right-falling stroke from top to bottom-right, crossing near the center. Avoid making the strokes too short or unbalanced—keep them roughly the same length so the character looks like a neat X.

丹 has a box-like structure with a dot inside and means 'cinnabar' or 'red', while 丿 is just a single left-falling stroke used as a radical. In contrast, 乂 is two strokes crossing in an X shape, and it carries rare meanings like 'to mow' or 'to govern'.

乂 is extremely rare in modern Chinese, appearing mainly in classical texts or in the place name 乂安 (Nghe An province in Vietnam). It is not in the HSK vocabulary and has an old-fashioned, literary flavor, often meaning 'peace' or 'to correct' in historical contexts.

Common words containing 乂 include: 乂安 (yì ān) — Nghe An (a province in Vietnam) or peace and stability.; 惩乂 (chéng yì) — to punish and correct; 乂字 (yì zì) — The character 'yì' (乂)..