Chinese Character Wiki
易

yì

easy

Original meaning: 

to bestow, give

Upside-down version of 益, depicting food or drink being poured from a container (皿). Based on the original meaning "to bestow, give", now written as 賜. The meaning later shifted to "exchange", "change", and "easy".

Components
皿 iconic component

皿  Iconic component

mǐn

  

dish

Depicts a vessel for holding food or drink.

◎ iconic component

◎  Iconic component

  

characterless component

Depicts food or drink being poured from a container.

Evolution

易 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
易 Bronze script Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
易 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

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

Clerical script

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

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

易  

yì

change; easy; amiable; to change; to exchange; prefix corresponding to the English adjective suffix "-able" or "-ible"

易  

Yì

surname Yi; abbr. for 易經|易经[Yì​jīng], the Book of Changes

Most common words with 易
Freq.
Word
Meaning

容易

easy

交易

business deal

易

easy

贸易

(commercial) trade

轻易

easily

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (0 verified)

裼 鬄

Sound component in 11 characters (3 verified)

賜 赐 踢 錫 锡 惕 剔 蜴 裼 埸 鬄

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*lek-s

yeH

yì

easy

*lek

yek

yì

change; exchange


Statistics

HSK level 3

Appears in 69.6140% of movies

552nd most common character in movies

461st most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

8

Unicode

U+6613

Shuowen

“易，蜥易，蝘蜓，守宮也。象形。《秘書》說，日月為易，象陰陽也。一曰从勿。”


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