艺 (yì) is a Chinese character meaning “art”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 乙 (second Heavenly Stem), one above the other, and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “art; skill”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 乙
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+827A; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry (3 + 1 = 4 strokes)
Memory aid
Grass (艹) spreading flat on top, one curving stroke (乙) beneath it — a craft that keeps growing from a single practised hand.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 艺术yì shùart艺 = yìHSK 4
- 手艺shǒu yìhandicraft skill; craftsmanship艺 = yì
- 艺苑yì yuànthe world of art; art circles艺 = yì
Go deeper
All readings
art; skill
art; skill; craft; talent
技能、本领；也指艺术。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 艺术yì shùart艺 = yìHSK 4
- 手艺shǒu yìhandicraft skill; craftsmanship艺 = yì
- 艺苑yì yuànthe world of art; art circles艺 = yì
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 艺 mean?
艺 (yì) means art; skill; craft; talent.
How do you pronounce 艺?
It is pronounced yì.
What parts is 艺 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 乙 (second Heavenly Stem), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+827A; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry (3 + 1 = 4 strokes). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 艺 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 艺?
艹. 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 艺?
Common ones are 艺术 and 手艺. The reading of 艺 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.