How to Write 瘗 (yì) — Meaning “to bury; to inter”

Imagine a sick person (the radical 疒) who has passed away and is now buried under a pile of earth. The bottom part of 瘗 contains two earth components (the left 土 and the right 土 within 堙), which visually remind you of soil covering the body. This picture helps link the character's form to its meaning of burying.

Start by writing the sickness radical 疒 with its standard stroke order: dot, horizontal, left-falling, dot, then a horizontal stroke at the bottom. The lower part 堙 has many horizontal strokes—keep them evenly spaced and not too crowded, especially the three horizontal lines in the right section. A common mistake is making the bottom part too wide or misplacing the inner dots.

Although 瘗 shares the same radical 疒 as 痘 (smallpox) and 痛 (pain), its lower part is unique: 瘗 uses 堙, while 痘 uses 豆 and 痛 uses 甬. The meanings are completely different—瘗 means to bury (related to death), while 痘 and 痛 refer to diseases or physical discomfort. Visually, 瘗 has more strokes and a more complex bottom structure.

瘗 is a rare, literary character not used in everyday speech; it appears mainly in classical texts, poetry, or historical discussions about burial customs. For example, the phrase 瘗玉埋香 poetically describes the burial of a beautiful woman, and 瘗钱 refers to paper money buried with the dead in traditional funerary practices. You might also encounter it in archaeological contexts when describing ancient interments.

Common words containing 瘗 include: 瘗埋 (yì mái) — to bury; to inter; 瘗玉埋香 (yì yù mái xiāng) — burying a beautiful woman (literary); 瘗钱 (yì qián) — paper money buried with the dead.