字 zì — a written character; a word in writing; handwriting; a courtesy name
zì (fourth tone, falling)
a written character; a word in writing; handwriting; a courtesy name
6 strokesRadical 子Frequency #286
Pinyin
- zì (fourth tone, falling)
a written character; a word in writing; handwriting; a courtesy name
Character breakdown
Ideographic description
⿱宀子The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 宀meaning partno entry yetA roof: the scene is indoors, in the house.
- 子meaning partA child born under that roof. The character is filed under this radical, not under the roof.
Mnemonic
A child 子 under a roof 宀: the character first meant to bear and raise children. The link to writing runs through that sense. Traditional scholarship divides the script into 文, the simple pictures, and 字, the compounds "bred" from them by joining parts — 字 is the character that breeds. So 汉字 are Chinese characters, 写字 is to write them, and 名字 is the name they spell.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.