(chí): spoon, used in 鑰匙|钥匙

(chí) is a Chinese character meaning “spoon.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2392 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, spoon. Its radical form (spoon) appears in many related characters such as (běi, north), (huà, to make into).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. spoon
  2. used in 鑰匙|钥匙

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticspoon

Decomposition: ⿺是匕 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounyào shikey4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
tāng chísoup spoon
chá chíteaspoon
yī bǎ yào shi kāi yī bǎ suǒOne key opens one lock.
yī chíspoonful
gōng kāi yào shipublic key (in encryption)
wàn néng yào shimaster key
sī rén yào shiprivate key (in encryption)
gōng kuài mǔ chí(Tw) serving chopsticks and serving spoons used in communal dining to promote hygiene
fàn chírice paddle
rán shāo chídeflagrating spoon
yào shi kǎkeycard
pèi yào shito make a key
suǒ chí(dialect) key
yào shi liànkeychain
15
Total compounds
0
As first character
80
As last character
20
As middle character

appears in 15 compound words: 0 as the first character, 80 as the last, and 20 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yuè
0.79610,403 co-occurrences
shuàn
0.45160 co-occurrences
kuài
0.434126 co-occurrences
0.431180 co-occurrences
lóng
0.413390 co-occurrences
kòu
0.406552 co-occurrences
0.4002,372 co-occurrences
tāng
0.398308 co-occurrences
suǒ
0.394372 co-occurrences
kǒng
0.393996 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

gōngkuàimǔchíHSK 4+

serving chopsticks and spoons

phrase
wànnéng yàoshiHSK 4+

master key; skeleton key

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men chí zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "匙."

Vietnam+Mar 2026

人工智能 - 企业增长的关键钥

rén gōng zhì néng qǐ yè zēng cháng de guān jiàn yuè chí

Artificial Intelligence: The Key to Business Growth

Tatoeba

你把钥给汤姆了吗?

Nǐ bǎ yàoshi gěi Tāngmu le ma?

Did you give Tom the key?

Tatoeba

给我这座城堡的钥!

Gěi wǒ zhè zuò chéngbǎo de yàoshi!

Give me the key to this castle!

Tatoeba

吉姆将钥插入门锁。

Jí mǔ jiāng yàoshi chārù ménsuǒ.

Jim put the key into the lock.

Tatoeba

汤姆把钥拿出了口袋。

Tāngmǔ bǎ yàoshi náchū le kǒudài.

Tom took his keys out of his pocket.

Tatoeba

汤姆不是唯一有钥的。

Tāngmǔ bù shì wéiyī yǒu yàoshi de.

Tom isn't the only one who has a key.

Tatoeba

我正在找钥,你看见了吗?

Wǒ zhèngzài zhǎo yàoshi, nǐ kànjiàn le ma?

I'm looking for my keys. Have you seen them?

Tatoeba

这钥能打开什么?

Zhè yàoshi néng dǎkāi shénme?

What does this key unlock?

Tatoeba

这房间的钥在哪里?

Zhè fángjiān de yàoshi zài nǎlǐ?

Where is the key to this room?

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the spoon radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced chí

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 匙 (chí) mean in Chinese?
匙 (chí) primarily means "spoon." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2392 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 匙 and 提?
匙 (chí) and 提 (tí) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 匕 vs 扌 (same 是 component).
How many strokes does 匙 have?
匙 is written with 11 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 匙?
The radical associated with 匙 is 匕 (spoon). This radical appears in many characters related to spoon.
What are the components of 匙?
匙 is composed of: 是 (phonetic), 匕 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺是匕 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 匙?
Common words with 匙 include: 钥匙 (yào shi, "key"); 汤匙 (tāng chí, "soup spoon"); 茶匙 (chá chí, "teaspoon"); 一把钥匙开一把锁 (yī bǎ yào shi kāi yī bǎ suǒ, "One key opens one lock."); 一匙 (yī chí, "spoonful"). There are over 15 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 匙 (chí)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chí: 吃 (to eat), 痴 (imbecile), 弛 (to unstring a bow), 池 (pool), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 匙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 匙 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.