Chinese Character Wiki
弟

dì, tì

younger brother

Original meaning: 

order

Pictograph of a rope neatly wrapped around a weapon handle. Based on the original meaning "orderly". The meaning later shifted to "next in sequence" (now written as 第) and "younger brother".

Evolution

弟 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
弟 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
弟 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
弟 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
弟 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

弟  

dì

young brother; junior; i, me; younger brother; junior male; I (modest word in letter)

弟  

tì

variant of 悌[tì]

Most common words with 弟
Freq.
Word
Meaning

兄弟

brothers

弟弟

younger brother

弟

junior male

弟子

disciple

老弟

old pal

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (1 verified)

第 悌

Sound component in 12 characters (2 verified)

第 梯 递 涕 剃 娣 悌 锑 睇 绨 鵜 鹈

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*lˤəjʔ

dejX

dì

younger brother


Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 56.7035% of movies

392nd most common character in movies

816th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

7

Unicode

U+5F1F

Shuowen

“弟，韋束之次弟也。从古字之象。，古文弟，从古文韋省，丿聲。”


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