邑 (yì) is a Chinese character meaning “(literary) town”. It is written from 口 (mouth) and 巴 (to cling to; (transliteration syllable ba)), one above the other, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “town”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
口 + 巴
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+9091, Unicode radical 163, and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–2 form 口; strokes 3–6 form 巴)
Memory aid
An enclosure (口) drawn above 巴: a walled yard with people settled underneath it. Both parts really are in this character, and together they picture a town.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 城邑chéng yìtown; walled settlement邑 = yì
Go deeper
All readings
town
(literary) town; walled settlement; a place where people live together
城镇；人聚居的地方（多用于书面语）。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 城邑chéng yìtown; walled settlement邑 = yì
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 邑 mean?
邑 (yì) means (literary) town; walled settlement; a place where people live together.
How do you pronounce 邑?
It is pronounced yì.
What parts is 邑 made of?
口 (mouth) and 巴 (to cling to; (transliteration syllable ba)), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+9091, Unicode radical 163, and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–2 form 口; strokes 3–6 form 巴). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 邑 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 邑?
邑. 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 邑?
Common ones are 城邑. The reading of 邑 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.