DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

仔

Mandarin · pinyin zǎi#

variant of 崽 zǎi
(dialect) (bound form) young man

Mandarin · pinyin zī#

used in 仔肩 zī jiān

Mandarin · pinyin zǐ#

(bound form) (of domestic animals or fowl) young
(bound form) fine; detailed

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仔: zǐ · small thing, child; young animal

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · zai3

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zai2 · zi1 · zi2

Cantonese word readings for 仔. 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 · Etymology 1

(domesticated animals or fowls) young
(in compounds) meticulous; fine
(Taiwan) alternative form of 籽 (zǐ, “seed”)

character · Etymology 1

(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Shehua) son (Classifier: 個／个 c; 粒 c)
(Cantonese) child
(Cantonese, slang) boyfriend (Classifier: 條／条 c)
(Cantonese, informal) little boy; young man (Classifier: 條／条 c; 隻／只 c)
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Denotes a young male of a particular trait.
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Denotes a young male of a particular occupation or background, often demeaningly.
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Used to call somebody affectionately. (For names, it is only used for males.)
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Demeaningly denotes somebody of a particular occupation or position.
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Denotes a young animal.
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Denotes something that is small in size.
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Denotes the younger sibling of one's spouse.
(Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Northern Min) Diminutive suffix. — Used with single-syllable nouns without denoting a specific meaning.
(Cantonese) Used after a classifier to indicate that something is small in size and/or quantity.
(Cantonese, slang, neologism) Suffix placed after a verb or adjective to sound cute and affectionate.

character · Etymology 2

(Hokkien) a diminutive suffix for nouns, adjectives or quantities
(Hokkien) a suffix that converts a verb or adjective into a noun
(Hokkien) a suffix placed after a name or title, used endearingly, humorously or pejoratively

character · Etymology 2

(Hokkien, alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 囝, especially when used as a suffix.

character · Etymology 3

(Southern Min) An interfix placed between two nouns to show the relationship between the two objects.

character · Etymology 4

(Southern Min) An interfix placed between two numbers to denote the value of 100, i.e. x 仔 y = 100x + 10y.

character · Etymology 5

(Southern Min) An interfix used limitedly in certain temporal location adverbs.

character · Etymology 6

(Hakka, Hokkien) a suffix used after nouns
(Hakka, Hokkien) a suffix that makes a derogatory slur

character · Etymology 7

(Hakka, Hokkien) only used in 仔肩 (zījiān)

character · Etymology 8

(Hakka, Hokkien, Wu) Used to show a verb has been completed before the last verb of a sentence, often in a sequence of events.
(Hakka, Hokkien, Wu) Used to indicate the present perfective.

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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