危 (wēi) is a Chinese character meaning “dangerous”. It is written from ⺈ (top form of 刀 (knife); a short slash with a turning stroke tucked under it) and 厄 (hardship; adversity; a strait one is caught in), one above the other, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “danger”
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Structure
⺈ + 厄
Top–bottom structure
- ⺈ claw-top form; the flattened top of 刀 seen in 争, 色, 龟 unknown
- 厄 hardship; adversity; a strait one is caught in · è meaning
Structure from: Unicode U+5371; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry (strokes 1–2 = ⺈, strokes 3–6 = 厄)
Memory aid
Someone leaning far out over the edge (⺈) with hardship (厄) waiting right below. Both parts are really in this character — lean any further and you are in danger.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 危险wēi xiǎndangerous; danger危 = wēi
- 危机wēi jīcrisis危 = wēi
Go deeper
All readings
danger
dangerous; perilous; to endanger; precarious
不安全，有可能受到损害；也指使人处于险境。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 危险wēi xiǎndangerous; danger危 = wēi
- 危机wēi jīcrisis危 = wēi
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 危 mean?
危 (wēi) means dangerous; perilous; to endanger; precarious.
How do you pronounce 危?
It is pronounced wēi.
What parts is 危 made of?
⺈ (top form of 刀 (knife); a short slash with a turning stroke tucked under it) and 厄 (hardship; adversity; a strait one is caught in), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5371; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry (strokes 1–2 = ⺈, strokes 3–6 = 厄). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 危 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 危?
卩. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 危?
Common ones are 危险 and 危机. The reading of 危 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.