Meaning
younger brother
Chinese: 兄弟。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “di” becomes a different word in each tone. 弟 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 弟弟dì diyounger brother
- 兄弟xiōng dìbrothers; younger brother; I, me (humble term used by men in public speech); brotherly
- 徒弟tú dìapprentice; disciple
- 弟子dì zǐdisciple; follower
- 子弟zǐ dìchild; the younger generation
Example Sentence
我弟弟今年上小学。Wǒ dì di jīn nián shàng xiǎo xué.My younger brother started primary school this year.
我WǒI弟弟dì diyounger brother今年jīn niánthis year上shàngon小学xiǎo xuéelementary school。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A cord wound around a stake in even, descending order: the orderly rank of brothers gives ‘younger brother’ (and the idea of sequence).
A way to remember it
Coils ranked in order — the younger in the line.
Easy to confuse with
- 第‘(ordinal marker)’: 弟 with the bamboo radical ⺮ on top, used to count order.