ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

character / written word

6 strokes · 宀 (roof) over 子 (child) · HSK 1

Where 字 comes from

字 = 宀 (roof) over 子 (child). It first meant 'to bear/raise a child under one's roof', then extended to written characters — because compound characters are 'born' from joining simpler ones, like children born within a family.

字 in Chinese culture

字 is the word for a Chinese character itself — the very thing this app teaches. 汉字 (Hànzì) = 'Han characters', the Chinese writing system. 名字 (with 名, which you know) = 'name'. 写字 = 'to write characters'. There are tens of thousands of 字, but ~3,000 cover almost everything you'll read — and you're collecting them one a day.

Example

汉字 Hànzì — Chinese character(s)

这个字很难。
Zhège zì hěn nán.
This character is hard.

How to remember it

A child (子) under a roof (宀) — characters are 'born' from smaller parts. A written CHARACTER.

汉字 (Chinese characters) number in the tens of thousands, but knowing ~3,000 lets you read a newspaper. One a day with Zhizhi, and the pile grows faster than you'd think.

Same sound, different tones

1st zī
resources
3rd zǐ
child
4th zì
character

Words unlocked by 字

名字 míngzi
name
汉字 Hànzì
Chinese character
LEARN 字 WITH STROKE-BY-STROKE WRITING → DOWNLOAD ZHIZHI
One character a morning · 169-character HSK library · iOS