耻 (chǐ): shame

耻 (chǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “shame.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 耳 (semantic) and 止 (phonetic). It ranks #2121 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 耻 ear. Its radical form 耳 (ear) appears in many related characters such as 闻 (wén, to hear, to smell), 职 (zhí, job, duty), 联 (lián, connect, unite).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. shame

Etymology & Origin

耻

pictophoneticear

Decomposition: ⿰耳止 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Practice writing 耻 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
羞耻nounxiū chǐ(a feeling of) shame
无耻adjectivewú chǐwithout any sense of shame
耻辱nounchǐ rǔdisgrace
可耻adjectivekě chǐshameful
廉耻nounlián chǐhonor and shame
奇耻大辱phraseqí chǐ dà rǔ(idiom) a great humiliation
耻笑verbchǐ xiàoto sneer at sb
耻骨nounchǐ gǔpubis
不耻下问phrasebù chǐ xià wènnot feel ashamed to ask and learn from one's subordinates
好学近乎知,力行近乎仁,知耻近乎勇hào xué jìn hū zhī , lì xíng jìn hū rén , zhī chǐ jìn hū yǒngto love learning is akin to knowledge, to study diligently is akin to benevolence, to know shame is akin to courage (...
一雪前耻phraseyī xuě qián chǐto wipe away a humiliation (idiom)
病耻感nounbìng chǐ gǎnstigma attached to a disease
不知羞耻bù zhī xiū chǐto have no sense of shame
恬不知耻phrasetián bù zhī chǐto have no sense of shame
八荣八耻nounbā róng bā chǐEight Honors and Eight Shames, PRC official moral guidelines
27
Total compounds
19
As first character
67
As last character
15
As middle character

耻 appears in 27 compound words: 19 as the first character, 67 as the last, and 15 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 耻 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

羞xiū
0.651665 co-occurrences
辱rǔ
0.6391,396 co-occurrences
骨gǔ
0.452470 co-occurrences
廉lián
0.444261 co-occurrences
无wú
0.434818 co-occurrences
雪xuě
0.420374 co-occurrences
鄙bǐ
0.42036 co-occurrences
尴gān
0.40412 co-occurrences
颜yán
0.38682 co-occurrences
吗ma
0.37224 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

八荣八耻bā róng bā chǐHSK 7+

Eight Honors and Eight Shames

noun
报仇雪耻bàochóuxuěchǐHSK 7+

to avenge a wrong and wipe out or erase humiliation; to take revenge for an insult

phrase
卑鄙无耻bēibǐwúchǐHSK 7+

shameless and immoral

phrase
不耻下问bùchǐxiàwènHSK 7+

to be not ashamed to learn from one's subordinates

phrase
厚颜无耻hòuyánwúchǐHSK 7+

utterly shameless

phrase
礼义廉耻lǐyìliánchǐHSK 7+

the four social bonds (propriety, justice, integrity and honor)

noun
奇耻大辱qíchǐdàrǔHSK 7+

deep humiliation and outrageous shame

phrase
一雪前耻yīxuěqiánchǐHSK 7+

to wash away a humiliation

phrase
荒淫无耻huāngyínwúchǐHSK 7+

to be openly given to debauchery; to be dissipated and unshamed

phrase
恬不知耻tiánbùzhīchǐHSK 7+

to have no sense of shame

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

知耻而后勇,只有认识到错误才能改正。

Zhī chǐ ér hòu yǒng, zhǐyǒu rènshi dào cuòwù cáinéng gǎizhèng.

Knowing shame leads to courage; only by recognizing mistakes can they be corrected.

東方日報Mar 2026

横眉冷看:他字典里没羞耻一词

héng méi lěng kàn : tā zì diǎn lǐ méi xiū chǐ yī cí

A cold, scornful glare: The word "shame" doesn't exist in his vocabulary.

StheadlineMar 2026

...云尼斯奥斯“哭泣”庆祝 反击曼城球迷去年耻笑失落金球奖

. . . yún ní sī ào sī kū qì qìng zhù fǎn jī 曼 chéng qiú mí qù nián chǐ xiào shī luò jīn qiú jiǎng

...Younes "wept" in celebration, striking back at Manchester City fans who had mocked him last year for missing out on the Ballon d'Or

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...底沦为政治斗争的廉价工具,是这代台湾人的耻辱

. . . de 沦 wéi zhèng zhì dǒu zhēng de lián jià gōng jù , shì zhè dài tái wān rén de chǐ rǔ

... It is a shame for this generation of Taiwanese to become a cheap tool for political struggle

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

“李贞秀案是宪政之耻!”蓝质疑卓揆立场是否与总统不同

lǐ zhēn xiù àn shì xiàn zhèng zhī chǐ ! lán zhì yí zhuó 揆 lì chǎng shì fǒu yǔ zǒng tǒng bù tóng

"The Lee Jung-so case is a constitutional shame!" Lan questioned whether Zhuo Kui's position was different from that of the president

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

杏林之耻!桃园涉偷拍狼医 判刑前仍可执业

杏 lín zhī chǐ ! táo yuán shè tōu pāi láng yī pàn xíng qián réng kě zhí yè

Shame of the apricot forest! Taoyuan was involved in secretly filming wolf doctors and could still practice before sentencing

Tatoeba

不遵守承诺是可耻的。

Bù zūnshǒu chéngnuò shì kěchǐ de.

It is a shame not to keep your promise.

Tatoeba

你应该为你的愚蠢感到羞耻。

Nǐ yīnggāi wèi nǐ de yúchǔn gǎndào xiūchǐ.

You should be ashamed of your folly.

Tatoeba

我为你的卑鄙行径刚到羞耻。

Wǒ wèi nǐ de bēibǐ xíngjìng gāng dào xiūchǐ.

I am ashamed of your despicable deed.

Tatoeba

提问对他来说是很羞耻的事。

Tíwèn duì tā lái shuō shì hěn xiūchǐ de shì.

He is ashamed to ask questions.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 耳 (ear) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chǐ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 耻 (chǐ) mean in Chinese?
耻 (chǐ) primarily means "shame." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2121 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 耻 and 此?
耻 (chǐ) and 此 (cǐ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 耳 vs 止 (same 止 component).
How many strokes does 耻 have?
耻 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 耻?
The radical associated with 耻 is 耳 (ear). This radical appears in many characters related to ear.
What are the components of 耻?
耻 is composed of: 耳 (semantic), 止 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰耳止 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 耻?
Common words with 耻 include: 羞耻 (xiū chǐ, "(a feeling of) shame"); 无耻 (wú chǐ, "without any sense of shame"); 耻辱 (chǐ rǔ, "disgrace"); 可耻 (kě chǐ, "shameful"); 廉耻 (lián chǐ, "honor and shame"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 耻 (chǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chǐ: 持 (to hold, to maintain), 吃 (to eat), 迟 (late), 池 (pool), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 耻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 耻 and the traditional form is 恥.

Practice writing 耻 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.