Zi - "child" - Chinese character profile
The Chinese character ? (zi) is very common, ranking 22nd on a list of the 3000 most common Chinese characters. Looking up this character in a normal dictionary gives you the basic meaning of "son" or "child". These are common words in English as well, but rank much lower than 22nd place. Why is that?
The answer is that the character has some other uses apart from meaning just "son" or "child". Mainly, it's used as a noun suffix, which means that its a small particle that is added after some words for persons, things or places.
In this article, we're going to look at the different usages of the character ? (zi), starting with the most basic meaning and then expanding to more abstract uses.
The basic meaning of ? (zi) is "son" or "child"
Originally, this character is a picture of a child with wrapped legs (thus appearing as only one vertical stroke) and arms stretched out or up (now to the sides). The head used to be round, but as is the case with many other characters, round shapes have been stylised and aren't written as circles in modern Chinese. This makes this character a pictograph, which are actually much rarer in Chinese than many people think.
An example of a word with the original meaning of ? (zi) is ?? (zinu) which means "sons and daughters". Another clear example is ?? (wángzi) "prince" (son of a king).
? (zi) can also mean "seed"
Before we look at the noun suffix ? (zi), let's look at another reasonably common usage. This character can be used to mean "seed" as in ?? (guazi) "melon seed" (a common snack).
Note that this isn't a neutral tone as is the case for the noun suffix described below!
The noun suffix? (zi)
As mentioned in the introduction, the reason the character ? (zi) is so common is that it's used as a noun suffix. That means that it's added to some single-syllable nouns to form two-syllable nouns instead. There is no rule that governs this perfectly, so it's not the case that you can know in advance which single-syllable nouns should have the ? (zi) suffix and which should not, it's something you have to learn on a case-by-case basis.
However, if you see a word ending with ? (zi), it's very likely that it's a noun! In these words, ? doesn't really mean anything, it just shows that it is a noun. Thus, don't be confused when the following words have nothing to do with sons, children or seeds!
Here are some high-frequency words with the noun suffix ? (zi):
?? érzi son
?? háizi child
?? fángzi house
?? rìzi days
?? dùzi stomach, belly
?? naozi brains, mind
?? wàzi socks
?? jiaozi dumplings
?? bízi nose
Also note that when used in this way, the syllable loses its tone and becomes a neutral tone. Therefore, its pronunciation depends both on the preceding syllable and intonation, read more about this phenomenon here.
Further uses of ?
There are of course more ways of using the character ? in modern Chinese. For instance, it is often used in the names of famous sages like Confucius (Confucianism) or Laozi (Taoism). Their names are written as ?? (kongzi) and ?? (laozi) respectively. Even though there are more uses than these, this article certainly covers the basics which should be enough for most students!
The answer is that the character has some other uses apart from meaning just "son" or "child". Mainly, it's used as a noun suffix, which means that its a small particle that is added after some words for persons, things or places.
In this article, we're going to look at the different usages of the character ? (zi), starting with the most basic meaning and then expanding to more abstract uses.
The basic meaning of ? (zi) is "son" or "child"
Originally, this character is a picture of a child with wrapped legs (thus appearing as only one vertical stroke) and arms stretched out or up (now to the sides). The head used to be round, but as is the case with many other characters, round shapes have been stylised and aren't written as circles in modern Chinese. This makes this character a pictograph, which are actually much rarer in Chinese than many people think.
An example of a word with the original meaning of ? (zi) is ?? (zinu) which means "sons and daughters". Another clear example is ?? (wángzi) "prince" (son of a king).
? (zi) can also mean "seed"
Before we look at the noun suffix ? (zi), let's look at another reasonably common usage. This character can be used to mean "seed" as in ?? (guazi) "melon seed" (a common snack).
Note that this isn't a neutral tone as is the case for the noun suffix described below!
The noun suffix? (zi)
As mentioned in the introduction, the reason the character ? (zi) is so common is that it's used as a noun suffix. That means that it's added to some single-syllable nouns to form two-syllable nouns instead. There is no rule that governs this perfectly, so it's not the case that you can know in advance which single-syllable nouns should have the ? (zi) suffix and which should not, it's something you have to learn on a case-by-case basis.
However, if you see a word ending with ? (zi), it's very likely that it's a noun! In these words, ? doesn't really mean anything, it just shows that it is a noun. Thus, don't be confused when the following words have nothing to do with sons, children or seeds!
Here are some high-frequency words with the noun suffix ? (zi):
?? érzi son
?? háizi child
?? fángzi house
?? rìzi days
?? dùzi stomach, belly
?? naozi brains, mind
?? wàzi socks
?? jiaozi dumplings
?? bízi nose
Also note that when used in this way, the syllable loses its tone and becomes a neutral tone. Therefore, its pronunciation depends both on the preceding syllable and intonation, read more about this phenomenon here.
Further uses of ?
There are of course more ways of using the character ? in modern Chinese. For instance, it is often used in the names of famous sages like Confucius (Confucianism) or Laozi (Taoism). Their names are written as ?? (kongzi) and ?? (laozi) respectively. Even though there are more uses than these, this article certainly covers the basics which should be enough for most students!
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