How is 字 pronounced?

字 is pronounced “zì” in pinyin.

What HSK level is 字?

字 belongs to HSK 1 in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.

How do you write 字?

Follow the stroke-order animation above; 字 is written using standard stroke order. Practice it in the writing trainer.

HSK 1noun

字

zì

字 (zì) means “letter; symbol; character; word; courtesy or style name traditionally given to males aged 20 in dynastic China”. It is an HSK 1 Chinese character in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.

Measure word: 个

Stroke order

Practice writing

Example

我学习汉字。

Wǒ xuéxí hànzì.

I study Chinese characters.

Words containing 字

名字míng ziname (of a person or thing)赤字chì zì(financial) deficit; red letter 数字shù zìnumeral; digit; number; figure; amount; digital (electronics etc)繁体字fán tǐ zìtraditional Chinese character 简体字jiǎn tǐ zìsimplified Chinese character, as opposed to traditional Chinese character 繁體字|繁体字[fan2 ti3 zi4]文字wén zìcharacter; script; writing; written language; writing style; phraseology 字母zì mǔletter (of the alphabet)字幕zì mùsubtitles; captions (of a movie etc)签字qiān zìto sign (one's name); signature 字典zì diǎnChinese character dictionary (containing entries for single characters, contrasted with a 词典, which has entries for words of one or more characters); (coll.) dictionary 识字shí zìto learn to read 汉字hàn zìChinese character; Japanese: kanji; Korean: hanja; Vietnamese: hán tự

More HSK 1 vocabulary

HSK 1 →

爱àito love; to be fond of; to like; affection; to be inclined (to do sth); to tend to (happen)的deof; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute); (used to form a nominal expression); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); also pr. [dì] or [di] in poetry and songs 八bāeight; 8 爸爸bà ba(coll.) father; dad 了le(completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)我wǒI; me; my 杯子bēi zicup; glass 是shìto be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion)你好nǐ hǎohello 北京běi jīngBeijing, capital of the People's Republic of China 你nǐyou (informal, as opposed to courteous 您)在zàito exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)

Frequently asked questions

What does 字 mean?: 字 (zì) means “letter; symbol; character; word; courtesy or style name traditionally given to males aged 20 in dynastic China”. It is an HSK 1 word.
How is 字 pronounced?: 字 is pronounced “zì” in pinyin.
What HSK level is 字?: 字 belongs to HSK 1 in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.
How do you write 字?: Follow the stroke-order animation above; 字 is written using standard stroke order. Practice it in the writing trainer.

Updated: 2026-05-27