(chǐ): shame

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

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. shame

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticear

Decomposition: ⿰耳止 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xiū chǐ(a feeling of) shame
wú chǐwithout any sense of shame
chǐ rǔdisgrace
kě chǐshameful
lián chǐhonor and shame
qí chǐ dà rǔ(idiom) a great humiliation
chǐ xiàoto sneer at sb
chǐ gǔpubis
bù chǐ xià wènnot feel ashamed to ask and learn from one's subordinates
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 (...
yī xuě qián chǐto wipe away a humiliation (idiom)
bìng chǐ gǎnstigma attached to a disease
bù zhī xiū chǐto have no sense of shame
tián bù zhī chǐto have no sense of shame
bā 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

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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.6724,176 co-occurrences
xiū
0.6281,972 co-occurrences
0.4591,410 co-occurrences
0.4342,458 co-occurrences
lián
0.432774 co-occurrences
xuě
0.4261,122 co-occurrences
0.426108 co-occurrences
gān
0.41036 co-occurrences
yán
0.392246 co-occurrences
ma
0.37772 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

bā róng bā chǐHSK 7+

Eight Honors and Eight Shames

noun
bàochóuxuěchǐHSK 7+

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

phrase
bēibǐwúchǐHSK 7+

shameless and immoral

phrase
bùchǐxiàwènHSK 7+

to be not ashamed to learn from one's subordinates

phrase
hòuyánwúchǐHSK 7+

utterly shameless

phrase
lǐyìliánchǐHSK 7+

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

noun
qíchǐdàrǔHSK 7+

deep humiliation and outrageous shame

phrase
yīxuěqiánchǐHSK 7+

to wash away a humiliation

phrase
huāngyínwúchǐHSK 7+

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

phrase
tiánbùzhīchǐHSK 7+

to have no sense of shame

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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

. . . 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!”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!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

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

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的事。

Tíwèn duì tā lái shuō shì hěn xiūchǐ de shì.

He is ashamed to ask questions.

Character Family

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: 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 耻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 耻 and the traditional form is 恥.

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.