钉 (dīng) is a Chinese character meaning “nail”. It is written from 钅 (metal radical (left-side form of 金)) and 丁 (fourth heavenly stem; adult male), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “nail”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
钅 + 丁
Left–right structure
Structure from: Unicode U+9489, Unicode Kangxi radical 167 (金/简化左旁 钅), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–4 form 钅; strokes 5–6 form 丁)
Memory aid
Metal (钅) on the left, 丁 on the right — and 丁 even looks like a nail: flat head on top, point hanging down. It also carries the sound dīng.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 钉子dīng zinail钉 = dīng
- 图钉tú dīngthumbtack; drawing pin钉 = dīng
- 钉耙dīng párake (with iron teeth)钉 = dīng
Go deeper
All readings
nail
nail; tack; spike
一头有帽、一头是尖的细小金属件，用来把东西固定在一起。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 钉子dīng zinail钉 = dīng
- 图钉tú dīngthumbtack; drawing pin钉 = dīng
- 钉耙dīng párake (with iron teeth)钉 = dīng
Rare readings, not taught: dìng
Sound component
丁 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 钉 mean?
钉 (dīng) means nail; tack; spike.
How do you pronounce 钉?
It is pronounced dīng.
What parts is 钉 made of?
钅 (metal radical (left-side form of 金)) and 丁 (fourth heavenly stem; adult male), side by side. The recorded source is: Unicode U+9489, Unicode Kangxi radical 167 (金/简化左旁 钅), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–4 form 钅; strokes 5–6 form 丁). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 钉 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 钉?
钅. 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 钉?
Common ones are 钉子 and 图钉. The reading of 钉 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.