之
Meanings
- (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的 de)
- him
- her
- it
Characters in this entry
- 之
- zhī · marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
1 · zhi1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Sentences in context
Exact source-spelling matches. Open the reader for dictionary lookups, construction notes and related examples. Occurrence does not establish a particular dictionary sense.
Read this spelling in Classical texts
Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
zi1
Cantonese word readings for 之. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character
- (literary) to go
- (literary) to go — (obsolete) to sprout; to come about
- (obsolete) this; these
- (literary) Genitive or attributive marker — Indicates that the previous word has possession of the next one.
- (literary) Genitive or attributive marker — Indicates that the previous word modifies the next one.
- (literary) Genitive or attributive marker — particle indicating that the preceding element is specialised or qualified by the next
- (archaic) Particle infixed in a subject-predicate construct acting as a nominalizer or indicating a subordinate clause.
- (literary) The third-person pronoun: him, her, it, them, when it appears in a non-subject position in the sentence.
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack