垤 (dié) - Ant hill & small mound or hillock formed by earth or

垤Tone 2

dié ｜ 9 strokes ｜ radical:

橙丁

垤 · dié

Ant hill;

small mound or hillock formed by earth or soil.

Ant hillsmall mound or hillock formed by earth or

Usage highlights

AnthillSmall moundMolehillEarth moundBurial moundHillock

Synonyms

  • 丘— hillock, mound
  • 墩— mound, block
  • 冢— burial mound

Antonyms

  • 谷— valley
  • 壑— ravine, gully

Usage & contexts

Examples

  • Ants build anthills (蚁垤) in the soil.
  • The ground was dotted with small mounds (小垤).
  • He stumbled over a molehill (鼹鼠垤) in the field.
  • Ancient burial mounds are sometimes called 古垤.

Collocations

  • Anthill(蚁垤)
  • Small mound(小垤)
  • Molehill(鼹鼠垤)
  • Earth mound(土垤)
  • Burial mound(坟垤)
  • Hillock(丘垤)

Idioms

  • Like an ant trying to shake a tree(蚍蜉撼树，可笑不自量垤)
  • Molehills into mountains(积垤成山)
  • The sage on the mound(圣人处垤)

Cultural background

FAQ
  • In classical Chinese literature, 垤 often appears in descriptions of nature and rural landscapes.
  • The character is used metaphorically to represent small obstacles or insignificant matters that can accumulate into larger problems.
  • Appears in ancient texts like Zhuangzi and Mencius in philosophical contexts about perspective and scale.

FAQ