倚

• Pinyin: yǐ
• Hanzi breakdown: 倚 = 亻 + 奇 (person radical + odd/tilting phonetic — a person leaning or off-balance)

Meaning

To lean against; to rest one's body on. Also: to rely on or depend on (someone or something). Can be physical or figurative.

In its physical sense, 倚 describes leaning one's body against a surface (倚墙 — lean against the wall, 倚栏 — lean on a railing). In its figurative sense it means to rely on power, status, or connections (倚仗 — exploit/rely on, 倚老卖老 — trade on one's seniority). More literary in register than 靠.

Examples

1. 老人倚着门框，目送儿子的车辆消失在拐角处，久久没有移步。 The elderly man leaned against the doorframe, watching his son’s car disappear around the corner, and didn’t move for a long time.
2. 她倚栏远望，将远处起伏的山脉与近处的湖面尽收眼底，心中顿生万千感慨。 She leaned on the railing and looked into the distance, taking in the rolling mountains afar and the lake close by, and suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion.
3. 这名官员倚仗自己与上级的特殊关系横行无忌，令同事们敢怒不敢言。 Relying on his special relationship with higher-ups, the official acted with complete impunity, leaving his coworkers angry but afraid to speak up.

Usage Guide

Context: literary, description, narrative, figurative

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 病房里，老人倚在枕头上，精神头已不如从前，却仍努力撑起微笑，向每位前来探视的亲友道谢，那份坚韧令所有人动容。(In the ward, the old man leaned against his pillow — his energy not what it once was — yet he still mustered a smile and thanked every visiting relative and friend, his resilience moving everyone present.)
• 她从小倚仗父亲在商界的广泛人脉获得了第一份工作机会，但她深知若不靠自身实力证明价值，这份起步优势迟早会成为他人诟病的把柄。(From a young age she relied on her father's business connections to secure her first job, but she knew that if she could not prove her worth through her own abilities, this head start would sooner or later become a target of others' criticism.)

Don't Say

• 他倚了那本书一整天 — 倚 as 'lean against' requires a surface or fixed object, not a handheld item; use 靠着、依着 for leaning on a surface, and specify the object correctly

Origin & History

倚 = 亻 (person radical) + 奇 (odd/off-balance — phonetic component). 奇 also provides a semantic hint of something tilting or off-centre.

Cultural Context

Era: Classical/Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal