贼
thief; robber; (bound form) traitor; subversive; (bound form) evil; wicked; sly; shifty; devious; (literary) to harm; to injure; (coll.) extremely; insanely; damn (common in NE China and Taiwan)
10 strokes
Dict coverage rank #1,296 U+8D3C
How 贼 is formed
Phono-semantic compound (形声字)
戎 (semantic, “weapons”) + 贝 (phonetic, bèi)
How to remember it
burglar · Heisig RSH #365
fiesta + needle + shells
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Phonetic series: characters sharing the sound component 贝
Siblings built with the same phonetic component 贝 (bèi) — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 贝 sound component | bèi | sea shell; money, currency |
| 败 | bài | failure; to decline, to fail, to suffer defeat |
| 坝 | bà | embankment; dam |
| 赘 | zhuì | unnecessary, superfluous |
| 呗 | bài | final particle of an assertion |
| 狈 | bèi | a legendary wolf; distressed, wretched |
| 钡 | bèi | barium |
Words containing 贼
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 老家贼 | lǎo jiā zéi | (dialect) sparrow |
| 汉贼不两立 | Hàn zéi bù liǎng lì | lit. Shu Han 蜀漢|蜀汉[Shu3 Han4] and Cao Wei 曹魏[Cao2 Wei4] cannot coexist (idiom); fig. two e… |
| 海贼王 | Hǎi zéi wáng | One Piece (manga and anime) |
| 民贼独夫 | mín zéi dú fū | tyrant and oppressor of the people (idiom); traitorous dictator |
| 独夫民贼 | dú fū mín zéi | tyrant and oppressor of the people (idiom); traitorous dictator |
| 上贼船 | shàng zéi chuán | lit. to board a pirate ship (idiom); fig. to associate with criminals |
| 山贼 | shān zéi | brigand |
| 国贼 | guó zéi | traitor to the nation |
| 贼心 | zéi xīn | evil intentions |
| 卖国贼 | mài guó zéi | traitor |
| 马贼 | mǎ zéi | horse thief; (old) group of horse-mounted bandits |
| 海贼 | hǎi zéi | pirate |
| 吸血乌贼 | xī xuè wū zéi | vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) |
| 做贼心虚 | zuò zéi xīn xū | to feel guilty as a thief (idiom); to have sth on one's conscience |
| 工贼 | gōng zéi | strikebreaker; scab; traitor to the working class |
| 贼眼 | zéi yǎn | shifty gaze; furtive glance |
| 作贼 | zuò zéi | to be a thief |
| 贼眉鼠眼 | zéi méi shǔ yǎn | shifty-eyed; crafty-looking (idiom) |
| 反贼 | fǎn zéi | (imperial China) rebel; traitor; (post-1949) enemy of the state; counter-revolutionary; (s… |
| 贼死 | zéi sǐ | completely; utterly (dialect) |