Dictionary › 啮

啮

niè

Character Traditional 嚙

What 啮 means

1. to gnaw
2. to erode

Other readings

啮 is 多音字 — it is read more than one way, and the reading changes the meaning.

• Nièsurname Nie
• nièvariant of {啮|niè}; to gnaw
• nièvariant of {啮|niè}

Example sentences

• 穷鼠啮狸。
  Qióng shǔ niè lí.
  A cornered rat will bite a cat.
• 这两个民族都以鹿、小型猎物、啮齿动物甚至昆虫为生，但他们的主要食物来源可能是仙人掌、牧豆和山核桃等植物。
  Both peoples lived off deer, small game, rodents, and even insects, but their main food sources were probably plants such as prickly pear cactus, mesquite beans, and pecan.

Words starting with 啮

• 啮合niè hé(of opposing teeth, or gears) to mesh; to engage
• 啮咬niè yǎoto gnaw
• 啮齿目niè chǐ mùorder of rodents (rats, squirrels etc)
• 啮齿类niè chǐ lèirodents
• 啮齿动物niè chǐ dòng wùrodent

Words containing 啮

• 穷鼠啮狸qióng shǔ niè lía desperate rat will bite the fox (idiom); the smallest worm will turn being trodden on
• 咬啮yǎo nièto gnaw

Characters that look like 啮

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 哦éto chant
• 喘chuǎnto gasp; to pant; asthma
• 喻yùto describe sth as; an analogy; a simile
• 喃nánmumble in repetition
• 喵miāo(onomatopoeia) meow; cat's mewing
• 哧chī(onomatopoeia) giggling; breathing; tearing of paper, ripping of fabric etc

Sounds the same

Read niè, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 涅(literary) alunite (formerly used as a black dye); (literary) to dye black
• 孽son born of a concubine; disaster; sin
• 聂to whisper
• 镊(bound form) tweezers; to use tweezers…
• 镍nickel (chemistry)
• 蹑to walk on tiptoe; to walk quietly; to tread (on)
• 颞bones of the temple (on the human head); see 颞颥, temple
• 嗫move the mouth as in speaking
• 臬guidepost; rule; standard
• 蘖new shoot growing from cut branch or stump
• 摰to seize with the hand; to grasp; to advance
• 陧dangerous