Kilo Lingo

(yǐ) - by means of, according to; so as to in Mandarin

yǐ

Traditional: 以

Line drawing of 以
Coloured illustration of 以
HSK 4
#319 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

by means of, according to; so as to

Word origin

以 (yǐ) means 'by means of, with'. Its early forms are taken to show a person carrying or using a tool or load; the character was later regularised, and the picture behind it is not fully agreed.

Origin
pictograph (early form debated)
Root
以, an early pictograph extended to 'to use, by means of'

Stroke order

Stroke order for 以

以

Examples

。

Treat others with courtesy.

。

Lead by example.

。

Please come back at the fastest speed.

。

He responded with a smile.

形xíng。

Please submit it in written form.

以 (yǐ) - by means of, according to; so as to.

Where this fits

The 1,000 most common Mandarin words

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Appears in 8 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 以.

可以kě yǐcan, may (permission or possibility)所以suǒ yǐtherefore, so, as a result以为yǐ wéito think (mistakenly), to assume以前yǐ qiánbefore, previously, in the past以后yǐ hòuafter, from now on, in the future以及yǐ jías well as, and also难以置信nán yǐ zhì xìnunbelievable, hard to believe, incredible以来yǐ láisince (a point in time), ever since

Used in

Stories

(1)

Grammar articles

(22)

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Mandarin · Free printables

以: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "以" (by means of, according to; so as to): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 7.