子 · zǐ
offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
Meanings & readings
Meaning & readings
offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
- Mandarin
- zǐ
- Cantonese
- zi2
Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 子 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Korean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 자
- KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Character readings · Quốc ngữ
Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.
Go deeperHán Việt (Thi Viện) ↗Wiktionary ↗
Form & structure
Writing & identity
- Unicode
- U+5B50
- Radical
- 子 · 39
- Strokes
- 3 · Unihan
- Residual
- 0
Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.
Stroke order
3 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.
Graphical structure
How to read these symbols
⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.
BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.
Words & connections
Words using 子
Character connections
Follow this component
Sentence context · 1 matches
这个盒子没那个盒子大。
Source, contributors & licenses
Mandarin: Tatoeba #393914 · Original contributor: FeuDRenais · Text editors: FeuDRenais, GlossaMatik · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: GlossaMatik
English: Tatoeba #7492847 · Original contributor: CK · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log
Source text unchanged. Original contributor and text editors are credited from the source log, separately from the current owner.
History & distinctions
Related forms
No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- tsiX · 即里 反切 · #1302
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 9415 · tsiX = 止開三上之精
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Evidence & next depth
Retained Unihan properties
- kMandarin
- zǐ
- kCantonese
- zi2
- kDefinition
- offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
- kTotalStrokes
- 3
- kRSUnicode
- 39.0
- kGradeLevel
- 1
- kTGH
- 2013:64
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- zǐ,zi 21006.060
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- zǐ 1531.040
- Tongyong Guifan · 2013
- zǐ 491.190
- Reading counts · XDHYPLCD
- zi(6853) zǐ(1114)