ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

(classical) of; it

Where 之 comes from

A foot stepping forward from a line: to go. Classical Chinese borrowed it as the all-purpose connector 'of' and pronoun 'it', and it never left — modern idioms are full of it.

之 in Chinese culture

百分之十 = 10 percent ('ten of a hundred'), 三分之一 = one third. Elegant writing loves it: 之前 before, 之后 after, 之间 between. It is the classical 的 — same job, older suit.

Example

How to remember it

A FOOTPRINT linking two places — the classical OF.

Every Chinese percentage contains 之: 百分之五十 'fifty of one hundred'. You cannot say 50% without this 3-stroke fossil.

Same sound, different tones

Words unlocked by 之

Related characters

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