Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to separate; to divide; to break up; to loosen; to explain; to untie

Chinese: 解开、解释或解决。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “jie” becomes a different word in each tone. 解 is the 3rd 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

  • 了解liǎo jiěto understand; to realize; to find out
  • 解决jiě juéto solve; to resolve; to settle (a problem); to eliminate
  • 理解lǐ jiěto comprehend; to understand
  • 解开jiě kāito untie; to undo; to solve (a mystery)
  • 解释jiě shìexplanation; to explain; to interpret; to resolve

Example Sentence

这道数学题我解不出来。Zhè dào shù xué tí wǒ jiě bu chū lái.I cannot solve this math problem.

Zhèthisdàoroad数学shù xuémathematicstopicIjiěto dividebunot出来chū láito come out

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

角 (horn) + 刀 (knife) + 牛 (ox): to cut an ox apart with a knife — ‘to untie, take apart; to solve, explain, understand; to dissolve’ (解决, 理解, 解开) (jiě); ‘to escort’ (jiè).

A way to remember it

Knife (刀) parting horn (角) from ox (牛) — to untie, to solve.