How to Write 亦 (yì) — Meaning “also; too”

Think of 亦 as a person standing with arms spread out saying 'Me too!' — the top 亠 is the head, and the bottom strokes are the arms and body. The two dots and hook can remind you of a person's stance, reinforcing the meaning 'also' or 'same'.

Write 亦 with 6 strokes: first the dot, then horizontal line, then left-falling stroke, vertical hook, left dot, and finally a short left-falling stroke on the right. A common mistake is making the bottom part look like 小 (three strokes: vertical hook, left dot, right dot) — remember the right side is a 撇 (left-falling), not a dot.

The character 㐬 is very rare and has a bottom component like a cross (㐅) instead of a hook with dots, while 㐭 contains a 口 (mouth) under the lid. In contrast, 亦 has a vertical hook and two strokes (dot and left-falling) at the bottom. Neither 㐬 nor 㐭 are used in modern Chinese, so 亦 is the only common character among them.

亦 is a formal, literary word meaning 'also' or 'too', often found in written language, idioms, and fixed expressions like 人云亦云 (to echo others blindly). It is not used in everyday spoken Chinese, where 也 is preferred. Culturally, 亦 adds a classical tone and appears in proverbs and historical texts.

Common words containing 亦 include: 亦然 (yì rán) — also the case; the same applies; 亦是 (yì shì) — is also; also is; 人云亦云 (rén yún yì yún) — to echo what others say; to follow the crowd blindly.