字 simplified
字 traditional · same
zì
character · written word · the writing system itself
部首 bùshǒu · 子 zǐ child 6 笔画 bǐhuà strokes HSK 1 tone 4 · zì
汉字 · The Writing System hub →
笔顺 bǐshùn · Stroke order

Click the character to replay. Press Try drawing to write it yourself.

字源 zìyuán Etymology & Structure
字源洞见 zìyuán dòngjiàn · Etymological Insight

字 zì = 宀 mián (roof — shelter, household) + 子 zǐ (child). A child born under a roof — the moment a new life enters the household. In classical China, this birth-moment was when a child was given its 字, its formal courtesy name. The two meanings converge with extraordinary elegance: just as a person needs a 字 (courtesy name) to be recognized socially, a word needs its 字 (written character) to exist in the literary record.

In classical usage, men received two names: the personal name 名 míng (kept relatively private — used only by elders and intimates) and the courtesy name 字 biǎozì (used in social and official life). The 字 was given at the coming-of-age ceremony at twenty. To use someone's 名 was intimate or presumptuous; to use their 字 was respectful. Confucius was known by his 字 Zhòngní 仲尼 as often as by his name Qiū 丘.

The character writes itself into its own meaning: 字 is a character — and it is the character for "character." This is the most self-referential word in the language. 汉字 Hànzì = "Han characters" — the proper name for the Chinese writing system. In Japanese: 字 ji — 漢字 kanji (same system, same character, same logic). The child under the roof crossed the sea intact.

写字/认字/打字 xiě zì / rèn zì / dǎ zì Actions with Characters
构词规律 gòucí guīlǜ · Pattern V + 字 = action performed on/with characters
The verb determines the relationship to the character: writing it, recognizing it, typing it, practicing it.
写字 (write) · 认字 (recognize/read) · 打字 (type) · 练字 (practice)
写字 xiě zì to write characters; to write by hand
V 动词 dòngcí
写 xiě (to write) + 字 zì (character). The fundamental literacy act — hand meeting surface, character taking form. Specifically implies handwriting rather than typing or printing. 写字 is both the practical skill and the cultural one: in Chinese civilization, handwriting is never merely functional.
请在这里写字。
Qǐng zài zhèlǐ xiě zì.
Please write here.
她的字写得很漂亮。
Tā de zì xiě de hěn piàoliang.
She writes characters beautifully.
练习写字很重要。
Liànxí xiě zì hěn zhòngyào.
Practicing handwriting is important.
语法 yǔfǎ · Grammar 写字 = writing by hand (general). 写 alone can mean writing generally (writing an email, an essay). 她字写得好 = "Her handwriting is good" — here 字 alone means "handwritten characters." The degree complement 写得好/写得漂亮 is the standard way to evaluate handwriting.
认字 rèn zì to recognize characters; to be literate; to read
V 动词 dòngcí
认 rèn (to recognize; to identify; to acknowledge) + 字 zì. The act of visually identifying a character and knowing its reading and meaning. Implies the foundational literacy skill. 不认字 = illiterate (cannot read) — a stark and socially significant label. Also used in the pattern 你认识这个字吗？(Do you know this character?) where 认识 replaces 认.
你认识这个字吗？
Nǐ rènshi zhège zì ma?
Do you know this character?
孩子开始认字了。
Háizi kāishǐ rèn zì le.
The child has started learning to read.
他不认字。
Tā bú rèn zì.
He can't read — he is illiterate.
辨析 biànxī · 认字 vs. 阅读 认字 = recognizing individual characters; basic reading ability (foundational skill). 阅读 yuèdú = to read text/books — implies fluency and comprehension, not just character recognition. A child 认字; an adult 阅读. Both are needed; 认字 comes first.
打字 dǎ zì to type; to type characters
V 动词 dòngcí
打 dǎ (to hit; to strike) + 字 zì. You are "striking" the characters into existence — the same 打 used in 打球 (play ball by striking it), 打电话 (make a phone call — striking the connection), 打鼓 (beat a drum). The verb captures the original mechanical action of the typewriter keyboard, now generalized to all digital typing.
她打字很快。
Tā dǎ zì hěn kuài.
She types fast.
我在打字，请稍等。
Wǒ zài dǎ zì, qǐng shāo děng.
I'm typing — please wait a moment.
打字机已经很少见了。
Dǎzìjī yǐjīng hěn shǎo jiàn le.
Typewriters are rarely seen anymore.
词语 cíyǔ · Key Compound 打字机 dǎzìjī = typewriter (lit. "character-striking machine"). The jī 机 suffix creates machines: 手机 (mobile phone — hand machine), 飞机 (airplane — flying machine), 打字机 (typewriter). The pattern is productive and transparent.
练字 liàn zì to practice writing characters; to practice calligraphy
V 动词 dòngcí
练 liàn (to practice; to train; to drill — originally: to boil silk to soften it) + 字 zì. Implies regularity, discipline, and sustained improvement. 练字 is what serious students and calligraphers do — not casual doodling but deliberate, structured practice. In Chinese culture, the analogy between calligraphic practice and moral self-cultivation runs deep.
他每天练字一个小时。
Tā měitiān liàn zì yīgè xiǎoshí.
He practices calligraphy for one hour every day.
练字是一种修心的方式。
Liàn zì shì yī zhǒng xiū xīn de fāngshì.
Practicing calligraphy is a way of cultivating the mind.
书法家每天都练字。
Shūfǎjiā měitiān dōu liàn zì.
Calligraphers practice their characters every day.
文化 wénhuà · Culture In classical Chinese thought, 练字 was not merely a skill — it was a form of 修身 (self-cultivation). The brush requires stillness of mind; each character demands total presence. The great calligraphers — Wang Xizhi 王羲之, Yan Zhenqing 颜真卿 — were as revered as philosophers.
汉字 Hànzì The Writing System — Scale & Variants
学者洞见 xuézhě dòngjiàn · Scholar Note

The scope of 汉字: the Kangxi Dictionary (1716) catalogued 47,035 characters. Modern comprehensive dictionaries list approximately 85,000. For daily functional literacy: ~3,500. For newspaper reading: ~8,000. The writing system has been in continuous use for approximately 3,500 years — the longest continuously-used writing system in the world.

Two major script variants exist: 繁体字 fántǐzì (traditional characters — used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and overseas communities) vs. 简体字 jiǎntǐzì (simplified characters — used in mainland China since the 1950s–1960s reforms). Most characters are identical or near-identical in both systems. Major divergences include: 愛/爱 (love), 國/国 (nation), 龍/龙 (dragon), 書/书 (book). Neither system is "wrong" — they are two codifications of the same underlying writing tradition, with approximately 2,000 years of shared history before the 20th-century split.

汉字 Hànzì Chinese characters; the Chinese writing system
N 名词 míngcí
汉 Hàn (Han — the dominant ethnic group; the Han dynasty, 206 BC–220 AD) + 字 zì (character). The proper name for the script. 汉 here refers to the Han people and their civilization — the writing system that became the cultural foundation of East Asia. In Japan: 漢字 kanji; in Korea (historical): 한자 hanja.
汉字是世界上最古老的文字之一。
Hànzì shì shìjiè shàng zuì gǔlǎo de wénzì zhī yī.
Chinese characters are one of the oldest writing systems in the world.
学汉字需要大量练习。
Xué Hànzì xūyào dàliàng liànxí.
Learning Chinese characters requires a great deal of practice.
汉字有几千年历史。
Hànzì yǒu jǐ qiān nián lìshǐ.
Chinese characters have a history of several thousand years.
繁体字 fántǐzì traditional Chinese characters
N 名词 míngcí
繁 fán (complex; numerous) + 体 tǐ (form; body; style) + 字 zì. The original, more structurally complex character forms that preserve more visual information about component etymology. Used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and many overseas Chinese communities. The term 繁体 (complex form) was coined retroactively — these characters were simply "the characters" until simplification.
台湾使用繁体字。
Táiwān shǐyòng fántǐzì.
Taiwan uses traditional characters.
繁体字保留了更多的历史信息。
Fántǐzì bǎoliú le gèng duō de lìshǐ xìnxī.
Traditional characters preserve more historical information.
辨析 biànxī · 繁体字 vs. 正体字 Mainland Chinese use 繁体字 (complex-form characters) as the name. In Taiwan, the preferred term is 正体字 zhèngtǐzì (standard/correct-form characters) — reflecting a different perspective on which system is normative.
简体字 jiǎntǐzì simplified Chinese characters
N 名词 míngcí
简 jiǎn (simple; brief; bamboo slip — early writing surface) + 体 tǐ (form; style) + 字 zì. Introduced in mainland China in the 1950s–1960s under the People's Republic, with the goals of increasing literacy rates. Many simplifications were based on existing cursive forms or folk variants — they were not invented from scratch but standardized. Approximately 2,000 characters were simplified from the traditional forms.
中国大陆使用简体字。
Zhōngguó dàlù shǐyòng jiǎntǐzì.
Mainland China uses simplified characters.
简体字学起来比较容易吗？
Jiǎntǐzì xué qǐlái bǐjiào róngyì ma?
Is simplified Chinese easier to learn?
文化 wénhuà · Culture The simplified/traditional debate is often politically charged. Practically: learners of mainland Chinese learn 简体字; learners focused on Taiwan, Hong Kong, or classical texts learn 繁体字. Many educated Chinese can read both. The underlying language — spoken Mandarin — is identical.
字典/词典 zìdiǎn / cídiǎn Dictionaries — Character vs. Word
辨析 biànxī · A Structural Distinction The difference between 字典 and 词典 is the difference between 字 and 词.
字 zì = individual character (atomic unit). 词 cí = word (usually multi-character).
字典 looks up single characters; 词典 looks up words. Understanding this distinction clarifies a great deal about how Chinese thinks about language.
字典 zìdiǎn character dictionary
N 名词 míngcí
字 zì (individual character) + 典 diǎn (canon; standard reference; classic text). A dictionary organized by radical, stroke count, or pronunciation that defines individual characters. The 典 suffix appears in 经典 jīngdiǎn (canonical classics) — a 字典 is a canonical reference for individual characters.
我查了字典，才知道这个字的意思。
Wǒ chá le zìdiǎn, cái zhīdào zhège zì de yìsi.
I looked it up in the dictionary to find out what this character means.
这个字在字典里怎么查？
Zhège zì zài zìdiǎn lǐ zěnme chá?
How do you look up this character in the dictionary?
电子字典比纸质字典更方便。
Diànzǐ zìdiǎn bǐ zhǐzhì zìdiǎn gèng fāngbiàn.
Electronic dictionaries are more convenient than paper ones.
语法 yǔfǎ · Usage 查字典 chá zìdiǎn = to look up in a character dictionary (common phrase). 查 = to look up; to investigate. The verb 查 is used with all reference materials: 查词典, 查地图, 查资料.
词典 cídiǎn word dictionary
N 名词 míngcí
词 cí (word; lyric; multi-character unit) + 典 diǎn (canonical reference). A dictionary organized alphabetically by pinyin or by topic that defines words and phrases rather than individual characters. For language learners, the 词典 is the primary tool — since most Chinese vocabulary consists of two-character compounds, the 字典 alone is insufficient.
我用英汉词典学英语。
Wǒ yòng Yīng-Hàn cídiǎn xué Yīngyǔ.
I use an English-Chinese dictionary to study English.
这本成语词典非常有用。
Zhè běn chéngyǔ cídiǎn fēicháng yǒuyòng.
This idiom dictionary is very useful.
康熙字典 Kāngxī Zìdiǎn the Kangxi Dictionary
N 名词 míngcí
Commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor 康熙帝, completed 1716. 47,035 characters organized under 214 radicals. The definitive classical reference work — still consulted by scholars of classical Chinese today. Its 214 radicals became the international standard and remain the basis of character lookup systems worldwide.
康熙字典收录了四万七千多个汉字。
Kāngxī Zìdiǎn shōulù le sì wàn qī qiān duō gè Hànzì.
The Kangxi Dictionary contains more than 47,000 Chinese characters.
康熙字典至今仍是汉字研究的重要参考。
Kāngxī Zìdiǎn zhìjīn réng shì Hànzì yánjiū de zhòngyào cānkǎo.
The Kangxi Dictionary remains an important reference for Chinese character research today.
历史 lìshǐ · History The Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722) was one of the longest-reigning emperors in Chinese history and a prolific patron of scholarship. The 214 Kangxi radicals are still used today in modern dictionaries, Unicode character organization, and digital input methods — a 300-year-old classification system embedded in contemporary technology.
新华字典 Xīnhuá Zìdiǎn the Xinhua Dictionary
N 名词 míngcí
新华 Xīnhuá (New China — the name of the official news agency and many state institutions) + 字典. The most widely-sold book in Chinese history and the standard reference for mainland Chinese students since its first edition in 1953. Simple, portable, and comprehensive for modern literacy needs. A fixture of Chinese primary education.
几乎每个中国学生都用过新华字典。
Jīhū měi gè Zhōngguó xuésheng dōu yòng guo Xīnhuá Zìdiǎn.
Almost every Chinese student has used the Xinhua Dictionary.
新华字典是世界上销量最大的工具书之一。
Xīnhuá Zìdiǎn shì shìjiè shàng xiāoliàng zuì dà de gōngjùshū zhī yī.
The Xinhua Dictionary is one of the best-selling reference books in the world.
名字/字体 míngzi / zìtǐ Name, Form & Display
名字 míngzi name; given name; full name
N 名词 míngcí
名 míng (name; fame; renown) + 字 zì (character; written form; courtesy name). Literally: "name-character." The compound fuses the spoken name (名) with its written realization (字) — you do not fully have a name until it can be written. In modern usage, 名字 refers to the full name or the given name depending on context.
你叫什么名字？
Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
What is your name?
我的名字叫李明。
Wǒ de míngzi jiào Lǐ Míng.
My name is Li Ming.
给孩子取名字是一件大事。
Gěi háizi qǔ míngzi shì yījiàn dàshì.
Naming a child is an important matter.
语法 yǔfǎ · Grammar 姓 xìng = surname (family name). 名 míng = given name. 名字 míngzi = the full name or just the given name depending on context. 请问您贵姓？(May I ask your surname? — formal, polite) vs. 你叫什么名字？(What's your name? — casual). The 贵 (honorable) in 贵姓 is a politeness marker.
字母 zìmǔ alphabet; letters
N 名词 míngcí
字 zì (character) + 母 mǔ (mother; source; matrix). Literally: "character-mothers." The foundational elements of an alphabetic system — the "mothers" from which all words are born. The term applies to any alphabetic system: the English alphabet, the pinyin romanization system, the Cyrillic alphabet. Hanzi are 字 (characters), not 字母.
英文字母一共有二十六个。
Yīngwén zìmǔ yīgòng yǒu èrshíliù gè.
The English alphabet has twenty-six letters in total.
拼音字母帮助学生学习普通话发音。
Pīnyīn zìmǔ bāngzhù xuésheng xuéxí Pǔtōnghuà fāyīn.
Pinyin letters help students learn Mandarin pronunciation.
辨析 biànxī · 字 vs. 字母 字 = Chinese character (a complete, meaning-bearing unit). 字母 = letter of an alphabet (a phonetic unit without independent meaning). The conceptual distinction runs deep: in Chinese, the smallest unit of writing (字) carries meaning; in alphabetic systems, the smallest unit (字母) carries only sound.
字体 zìtǐ font; typeface; style of writing
N 名词 míngcí
字 zì (character) + 体 tǐ (body; form; style). The physical form a character takes — whether in print, on screen, or in handwriting. Covers both digital fonts and handwriting styles. The same character can appear in multiple 字体: the same 字, different bodies.
这篇文章用的是宋体。
Zhè piān wénzhāng yòng de shì Sōngtǐ.
This article uses Song typeface.
他的字体很好看。
Tā de zìtǐ hěn hǎo kàn.
His handwriting style is beautiful.
请把字体改大一点。
Qǐng bǎ zìtǐ gǎi dà yīdiǎn.
Please make the font larger.
词语 cíyǔ · Key Terms 楷体 Kǎitǐ (regular script — the clearest, most standard form; used in textbooks) · 宋体 Sōngtǐ (Song typeface — the most common print font, with serifs) · 黑体 Hēitǐ (sans-serif / bold block font — used for headings) · 草书 cǎoshū (cursive script — the fastest, most abbreviated style).
字幕 zìmù subtitles; captions
N 名词 míngcí
字 zì (character; text) + 幕 mù (curtain; screen — as in 银幕 yínmù, the silver screen). Literally: "character-curtain." The text that appears across the screen like writing on a curtain. A modern compound that elegantly extends the ancient components into a contemporary context.
这部电影有中文字幕吗？
Zhè bù diànyǐng yǒu Zhōngwén zìmù ma?
Does this movie have Chinese subtitles?
很多中国人看剧也开字幕。
Hěn duō Zhōngguó rén kàn jù yě kāi zìmù.
Many Chinese people watch TV shows with subtitles on too.
字幕翻译是一项专业技能。
Zìmù fānyì shì yī xiàng zhuānyè jìnéng.
Subtitle translation is a professional skill.
文字/文化 wénzì / wénhuà Writing & Civilization
学者洞见 xuézhě dòngjiàn · Scholar Note

文字 wénzì = written language; script (broader than 字 alone — 文 covers the whole written tradition, the texture of civilized expression). The character as the atomic unit of Chinese culture: poetry is counted in 字 (五言绝句 = 5-character-per-line quatrain), contracts specify 字数 (character count), calligraphy is evaluated 字 by 字. A civilization measured in characters.

The great reform of Chinese writing: 文言文 wényánwén (classical written language — used for ~2,000 years, highly compressed: one character often equals a modern sentence) vs. 白话文 báihuàwén (vernacular written language — reformed after the May Fourth Movement of 1919, matches how people actually speak). Lu Xun 鲁迅 and Hu Shi 胡适 championed the shift to 白话文 as essential for mass education and national modernization.

文字 wénzì written language; script; characters collectively
N 名词 míngcí
文 wén (writing; culture; pattern; civilization) + 字 zì (character). Broader than 字 alone. 文字 covers the entire written tradition — not just individual characters but the system, the culture, and the civilization that writing makes possible. 文 itself is one of the most semantically rich characters in Chinese: it contains writing, culture, pattern, and the civilizing process.
中国文字历史悠久。
Zhōngguó wénzì lìshǐ yōujiǔ.
Chinese writing has a long and deep history.
文字的发明改变了人类文明。
Wénzì de fāmíng gǎibiàn le rénlèi wénmíng.
The invention of writing changed human civilization.
甲骨文是中国最早的成熟文字。
Jiǎgǔwén shì Zhōngguó zuì zǎo de chéngshú wénzì.
Oracle bone script is China's earliest mature writing system.
文言文 wényánwén classical written Chinese
N 名词 míngcí
文 wén (writing; written form) + 言 yán (speech; language) + 文 wén (text). The written form of classical spoken Chinese — crystallized in the pre-Han period and used as the literary and official written standard for approximately 2,000 years. Highly compressed: a single character often carries what would require a full sentence in modern Chinese. Still read by educated Chinese and studied in secondary school.
学文言文很有挑战性。
Xué wényánwén hěn yǒu tiǎozhànxìng.
Studying classical Chinese is quite challenging.
《论语》是用文言文写的。
Lúnyǔ shì yòng wényánwén xiě de.
The Analects of Confucius were written in classical Chinese.
文化 wénhuà · Culture 文言文 created a paradox: the same written language was used across China regardless of regional dialect — a unifying force for 2,000 years. But only the educated elite could read it. The shift to 白话文 in the 20th century was thus both a cultural revolution and a democratization of literacy.
白话文 báihuàwén vernacular written Chinese
N 名词 míngcí
白 bái (plain; white; clear; spoken) + 话 huà (speech; talk) + 文 wén (written text). Writing that matches how people actually speak. 白话 literally = "plain speech" — the ordinary spoken language as opposed to the elevated classical register. Championed by intellectuals of the May Fourth Movement (1919) as essential for national modernization and mass literacy. Now the universal standard for all Chinese writing.
现代小说都用白话文写作。
Xiàndài xiǎoshuō dōu yòng báihuàwén xiězuò.
Modern novels are all written in vernacular Chinese.
鲁迅是推广白话文的重要人物。
Lǔ Xùn shì tuīguǎng báihuàwén de zhòngyào rénwù.
Lu Xun was an important figure in promoting vernacular writing.
字的类型 zì de lèixíng Four Types of 汉字 — How Characters Are Made
系统洞见 xìtǒng dòngjiàn · System Insight

The traditional analysis of 汉字 (六书 liù shū, the "Six Writings") identifies four main formation types used in practice. Understanding them transforms learning from rote memorization into a decoding system. The critical fact: approximately 80% of all characters are 形声字 (semantic-phonetic compounds) — meaning most characters contain a visual hint at both their meaning AND their pronunciation. Once you see the system, you can make educated guesses about characters you have never seen before.

类型 Type 拼音 Pīnyīn 英文 Yīngwén 例字 Examples 说明 Explanation
象形字 xiàngxíng zì Pictographs 日 月 山 水 木 火 Direct pictures of things. The most ancient type — the original writing. 日 = the sun (circle with a dot); 月 = the moon (crescent).
指事字 zhǐshì zì Ideographs 上 下 一 二 三 本 Abstract concepts marked with indicators. 上 = above (a line above a base); 下 = below. 本 = root (a dot at the base of 木 tree).
会意字 huìyì zì Logical Aggregates 明 休 森 男 好 Two or more components combine in meaning. 明 = 日+月 = bright. 休 = 人+木 = a person leaning against a tree = rest. 森 = three 木 = forest.
形声字 xíngshēng zì Semantic-Phonetic Compounds 妈 清 请 情 晴 ~80% of all characters. One component hints at meaning (形); one hints at pronunciation (声). 妈 = 女(woman) + 马(mǎ) → mother (mā). 清/请/情/晴 all share 青 (qīng) as phonetic component.
成语 chéngyǔ Idioms & Set Phrases
一字千金 yī zì qiān jīn one character worth a thousand gold — writing so perfect that not a word can be changed From the story of Lü Buwei's 吕氏春秋: he offered a reward to anyone who could improve or remove even one character. Used to praise flawless writing or describe agonizing over word choice. Also used to describe the high value placed on calligraphy by a great master.
字斟句酌 zì zhēn jù zhuó weighing every character, deliberating every sentence — writing with extreme care and precision 斟酌 zhēnzhuó = to deliberate; to weigh carefully. Used for careful writing, diplomatic language, or painstaking editing. A compliment to someone who writes with rigor. 这份合同是字斟句酌写成的。(This contract was written with extreme care.)
咬文嚼字 yǎo wén jiáo zì to chew and gnaw on words — nitpicking at wording; pedantic attention to phrasing 咬 = to bite; 嚼 = to chew. Vividly imagines someone masticating language rather than simply reading it. Can be used approvingly (careful, attentive reading) or critically (pedantry, missing the point). Context determines the register.
一字不漏 yī zì bù lòu not missing a single character — word-for-word; complete and verbatim 漏 lòu = to leak; to omit; to miss. 他把合同一字不漏地读了一遍。(He read the contract verbatim, not missing a single character.) Used to emphasize thoroughness, total quotation, or painstaking completeness. Related: 一字不差 yī zì bù chā (not one character wrong — absolutely accurate).
相邻词汇 xiānglín cíhuì Adjacent Vocabulary
文wénwriting; culture; pattern 词cíword; lyric 语yǔlanguage; speech 句jùsentence; clause 文章wénzhāngessay; article 书法shūfǎcalligraphy 笔画bǐhuàstroke (of a character) 偏旁piānpángradical component 部首bùshǒuradical (dictionary) 拼音pīnyīnpinyin romanization 声调shēngdiàotones 汉语HànyǔMandarin; Chinese language 书写shūxiěto write; handwriting
记忆法 jìyìfǎ · Master Retention Image

A child born under a roof. That moment — the birth, the name-giving, the entry into the household record — is what 字 encodes. Writing is the same event for a word: the moment language is fixed on a surface, given a body, made recognizable and transmissible across time. A word without its 字 is like a child with no name: present but unrecognized by the social world.

The ~85,000 characters in the great dictionaries are 85,000 children under 85,000 roofs — all the thoughts the civilization decided to preserve. When you learn a new 字, you are not memorizing a shape. You are giving a word its courtesy name — the form by which it can be recognized in polite company, across centuries.

And note the self-reference: the character 字 is itself a 字. The child under the roof named itself. No other writing system has this: a word that is literally what it describes.

In Japanese: 漢字 kanji — the same child, the same roof, the same 3,500-year tradition, still being born into new households every day.