窃

窃 · qiè

secretly, stealthily; steal; thief

Entry ↗

Meanings & readings

Meaning & readings

secretly, stealthily; steal; thief

Mandarin
qiè
Cantonese
sit3

Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.

Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese

Readings recorded for 窃 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.

Japanese 日本語

Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.

On’yomi · katakana

セツ

Kun’yomi · hiragana

ぬすむひそかに

Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property

セツ ぬすむ ひそかに

Korean 한국어

Hanja readings · Hangul

절

Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.

Reading sources explained
절
KS X 1002 (1)
Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kHangul ↗ · provisional property

절:1

Vietnamese Tiếng Việt

Not recorded for this exact character in this dataset. This does not mean the language has no reading.

Form & structure

Writing & identity

Unicode
U+7A83
Radical
穴 · 116
Strokes
9 · Unihan
Residual
4

Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.

Stroke order

9 strokes
窃
Strokes
9
Convention
PRC · Make Me a Hanzi

9 strokes in writing order. Play to watch them, or Step through one at a time.

Modern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.

Graphical structure

⿱穴切(G)
⿱⿱宀儿切(HTJKP)
How to read these symbols

⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.

BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.

Words & connections

Words using 窃

Character connections

No reverse component match in this collection.

History & distinctions

Related forms

竊

Unihan traditional/simplified variant properties. Conversion may depend on context.

Sources & reference

Evidence & next depth

Source editions & exact scope ↗
Retained Unihan properties
kMandarin
qiè
kCantonese
sit3
kDefinition
secretly, stealthily; steal; thief
kTotalStrokes
9
kRSUnicode
116.4
kTraditionalVariant
U+7A83 U+7ACA
kSimplifiedVariant
U+7A83
kTGH
2013:1702

Readings across dictionaries

Small numbers locate dictionary entries; 粵 introduces Cantonese. Includes rare or historical readings. Source notation ↗

Reference desk

Sentences in context

Find examples using 窃 ↗

The attributed sentence collection is still small; this spelling has no retained example yet.

Study this character

Structure & connections

0.10
31dictionary records using 窃0forms using this shape0attributed sound links
⿱ Above / below

Shape description
穴 above 切 · the shape used in China
Source notation ^⿱穴切$(G)
BabelStone · 2025-06-27. Encoded shape and region tags; graphical analysis does not establish historical function.

Decompose & trace ↗Browse all 31 word records ↗Explore sound families ↗Component search ↗
Retained descriptions & scope

^⿱穴切$(G)

^⿱⿱宀儿切$(HTJKP)

All alternatives are retained. Only the first description drives component search and graphical links. Counts describe this snapshot, not frequency. Evidence and method.