How to Write 彟 (yuē) — Meaning “measure / standard”

Picture a hand (又) holding a bird (隹) against a ruler (the top part 彐 looks like a measuring scale). This image of "hand-bird-measure" helps recall the character's meaning of standard or measure.

This character has 20 strokes, so take care to write the 隹 part with its four horizontal strokes not too close together. The bottom 又 must be balanced under the 彐 and 隹; a common mistake is making the 彐 too wide or the bird too tall.

The main difference is that 彝 and 彞 are traditional variants of the same character meaning 'ritual vessel' or 'constant', while 彟 is a separate character meaning 'measure' or 'standard'. Visually, 彝 has more strokes and includes 糸 (silk) and 廾 (two hands), whereas 彟 has 隹 and 又.

彟 is very rare in modern Chinese and mostly appears in classical or literary texts. You might see it in compound words like 矩彟 (rules and standards) or 尺彟 (a standard measure), but it is not part of everyday vocabulary and does not appear in the HSK lists.

Common words containing 彟 include: 矩彟 (jǔ yuē) — Rules; standards.; 尺彟 (chǐ yuē) — standard; measure; 彟度 (yuē dù) — standard / measure.