之

之 · zhī

marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to

Entry ↗

Meanings & readings

Meaning & readings

marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to

Mandarin
zhī
Cantonese
zi1

Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.

Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese

Readings recorded for 之 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

シ

Kun’yomi · hiragana

のこれゆくおいてこの

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.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property

シ の これ ゆく おいて この

Korean 한국어

Hanja readings · Hangul

지

Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.

Reading sources explained
지
KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kHangul ↗ · provisional property

지:0E

Vietnamese Tiếng Việt

Character readings · Quốc ngữ

chi

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.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kVietnamese ↗ · provisional property

chi

Form & structure

Writing & identity

Unicode
U+4E4B
Radical
丿 · 4
Strokes
3 · Unihan
Residual
3

Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.

Stroke order

3 strokes
之
Strokes
3
Convention
PRC · Make Me a Hanzi

3 strokes in writing order. Play to watch them, or Step through one at a time.

Modern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.

Graphical structure

⿱丶{100}(GHTJKPV)
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 之

Character connections

2 catalogue records include this shape in their first retained IDS. Graphical containment does not imply shared etymology.

Follow this component

Reverse links to attributed component analyses. Open each character for its role, source and words. Shared components do not establish word ancestry.

Sentence context · 1 matches

他们之间隔着很远的距离。

They are separated by a great distance.
Source, contributors & licenses

Mandarin: Tatoeba #876558 · Original contributor: eastasiastudent · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: GlossaMatik
English: Tatoeba #876559 · Original contributor: eastasiastudent · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: AlanF_US

Source text unchanged. Original contributor and text editors are credited from the source log, separately from the current owner.

Sentence entry · words & provenance ↗
Written-form matches; sense and pronunciation are not automatically aligned. Corpus & selection ↗

History & distinctions

Related forms

No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.

Historical readings

Middle Chinese
tsyi · 止而 反切 · #186

Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.

Source row & reading categories

CSV line 1528 · tsyi = 止開三平之章

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

Source editions & exact scope ↗
Retained Unihan properties
kMandarin
zhī
kCantonese
zi1
kDefinition
marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
kTotalStrokes
3
kRSUnicode
4.3
kGradeLevel
2
kTGH
2013:58

Readings across dictionaries

Hanyu Da Zidian
zhī,zhū,zhì 10043.010
Small numbers locate dictionary entries; 粵 introduces Cantonese. Includes rare or historical readings. Source notation ↗

Reference desk

Sentences in context

Explore 1 example using 之 ↗

Exact source-spelling matches. Open the reader for dictionary lookups, construction notes and related examples. Occurrence does not establish a particular dictionary sense.

Study this character

Structure & connections

0.10
540dictionary records using 之2forms using this shape1attributed sound links

A complete parsed description is unavailable for this endpoint. It is not assumed to be an indivisible unit.

Decompose & trace ↗Browse all 540 word records ↗Explore sound families ↗Component search ↗
Retained descriptions & scope

^⿱丶{100}$(GHTJKPV) · preserved, not fully parsed

All alternatives are retained. Only the first description drives component search and graphical links. Counts describe this snapshot, not frequency. Evidence and method.