How to Write 逸 (yì) — Meaning “leisurely; to escape”

Picture a rabbit (兔) running away with the walk radical 辶 to escape — but note that 逸 uses 免 (no dot), which looks like a rabbit missing its tail. Imagine a careless rabbit that lost its tail while fleeing leisurely, so it's 'easy and comfortable' without the extra dot.

Write 辶 first: dot, then the zigzag stroke, finally the long horizontal sweep. The right part 免 has 7 strokes: short horizontal, covering horizontal, vertical, two short horizontals, and a vertical hook. A common mistake is adding an extra dot at the end like 兔 (rabbit) — 逸 has no dot.

迶 (yòu) is a very rare character meaning 'to go around' and shares the walk radical, but 逸 is common. 迷 (mí) means 'to be confused' or 'to fascinate' and uses the phonetic 米 (rice). In contrast, 逸 always relates to escape or leisure, never confusion.

逸 appears in formal or literary expressions like 安逸 (ān yì, 'easy and comfortable') describing a relaxed lifestyle, 逃逸 (táo yì, 'to flee' from an accident or crime), and 飘逸 (piāo yì, 'graceful and flowing' for hair or calligraphy). It is not in the HSK list, so learners often meet it in classical poetry or advanced texts.

Common words containing 逸 include: 安逸 (ān yì) — Easy and comfortable; 逃逸 (táo yì) — to escape; to flee (e.g., from a scene); 飘逸 (piāo yì) — Graceful; elegant; flowing.