欺 (qī) is a Chinese character meaning “to deceive”. It is written from 其 (his; her; its; that) and 欠 (to yawn; to owe; to lack), side by side, and takes 12 strokes.
Build the character for “to deceive”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
其 + 欠
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 欺，詐欺也。从欠其聲; Unicode IDS ⿰其欠, checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph strokes (8 + 4 = 12)
Memory aid
其 ("that one") beside 欠 (a person with the mouth wide open). Picture that one opening his mouth wide only to fool you — 欺, to deceive.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
12 strokes
In real words
- 欺骗qī piànto deceive; to cheat欺 = qī
- 欺侮qī wǔto bully; to pick on欺 = qī
Go deeper
All readings
to deceive
to deceive; to cheat; to bully
用假话骗人；也指仗势压人、欺负人。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 欺骗qī piànto deceive; to cheat欺 = qī
- 欺侮qī wǔto bully; to pick on欺 = qī
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 欺 mean?
欺 (qī) means to deceive; to cheat; to bully.
How do you pronounce 欺?
It is pronounced qī.
What parts is 欺 made of?
其 (his; her; its; that) and 欠 (to yawn; to owe; to lack), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 欺，詐欺也。从欠其聲; Unicode IDS ⿰其欠, checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph strokes (8 + 4 = 12). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 欺 have?
12. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 欺?
欠. 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 欺?
Common ones are 欺骗 and 欺侮. The reading of 欺 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.