茨 (cí): Caltrop or puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris), to thatch (a roof)

茨 (cí) is a Chinese character meaning “caltrop or puncture vine (tribulus terrestris).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 次 (phonetic). It ranks #2403 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 茨 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 蒸 (zhēng, to steam), 草 (cǎo, grass), 花 (huā, flower).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Caltrop or puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris)
  2. to thatch (a roof)

Etymology & Origin

茨

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹次 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
盖茨proper-noungài cíGates (name)
霍格沃茨huò gé wò cíHogwarts (Harry Potter)
罗伯茨proper-nounluó bó cíRoberts
阿尔茨海默proper-nounā ěr cí hǎi mòAlois Alzheimer (1864–1915), German psychiatrist and neuropathologist
波茨坦proper-nounbō cí tǎnPotsdam, near Berlin, Germany
博茨瓦纳proper-nounbó cí wǎ nàBotswana
盖茨比gài cí bǐGatsby
菲茨杰拉德fēi cí jié lā déFitzgerald (name)
霍洛维茨huò luò wéi cíHorowitz (name)
比尔·盖茨bǐ ěr · gài cíBill Gates (1955-), co-founder of Microsoft
托洛茨基proper-nountuō luò cí jīLeon Trotsky (1879–1940), a leader in the Russian Revolution in 1917
科茨沃尔德kē cí wò ěr déthe Cotswolds (England)
萨尔茨堡proper-nounsà ěr cí bǎoSalzburg
格拉茨gé lā cíGraz (city in Austria)
伊尔库茨克yī ěr kù cí kèIrkutsk
39
Total compounds
13
As first character
33
As last character
54
As middle character

茨 appears in 39 compound words: 13 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 54 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 茨 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

默mò
0.75045 co-occurrences
访fǎng
0.59341 co-occurrences
梅méi
0.56623 co-occurrences
德dé
0.52050 co-occurrences
华huá
0.44134 co-occurrences
尔ěr
0.40827 co-occurrences
总zǒng
0.38228 co-occurrences
京jīng
0.35716 co-occurrences
理lǐ
0.33129 co-occurrences
批pī
0.31810 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

博茨瓦纳Bócíwǎnà

Botswana (a country in Southern Africa)

顿涅茨克Dùnniècíkè

Donetsk (a city in Ukraine)

莱布尼茨Láibùnící

a transliteration of the German surname Leibniz

萨尔茨堡Sà'ěrcíbǎo

Salzburg

土阶茅茨tǔ jiē máo cí

lit. earthen steps and a thatched hut; frugal living conditions (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

爱范儿Sep 2026

盖茨同时承认,全球放缓 AI 进展的统一计划在经济和地缘竞争下很难实现。

gài cí tóng shí chéng rèn , quán qiú fàng huǎn A I jìn zhǎn de tǒng yī jì huá zài jīng jì hé dì yuán jìng zhēng xià hěn nán shí xiàn .

Gates also acknowledged that a coordinated global effort to slow the pace of AI progress would be difficult to achieve amid economic and geopolitical competition.

少数派Sep 2026

除了比尔·盖茨,微软联合创始人保罗·艾伦也投资了这家工作室。

chú le bǐ ěr gài cí , wēi ruǎn lián hé chuàng shǐ rén bǎo luó ài lún yě tóu zī le zhè jiā gōng zuò shì .

In addition to Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has also invested in this studio.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

记忆力减退并非“老糊涂” 专家教你识别阿尔茨海默病早期信号

jì yì lì jiǎn tuì bìng fēi lǎo hú tú zhuān jiā jiào nǐ shí bié ā ěr cí hǎi mò bìng zǎo qī xìn hào

Memory Loss Isn't Just "Getting Forgetful"—Experts Teach You How to Recognize the Early Signs of Alzheimer's Disease

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

守护老龄脑健康 中国科技馆推出世界阿尔茨海默病日主题活动

shǒu hù lǎo líng nǎo jiàn kāng zhōng guó kē jì guǎn tuī chū shì jiè ā ěr cí hǎi mò bìng rì zhǔ tí huó dòng

Protecting Brain Health in Older Adults: China Science and Technology Museum Launches World Alzheimer's Day Events

IT之家Aug 2026

弗里茨于 7 月中旬离开微软,随后开始推进这个新项目。

fú lǐ cí yú 7 yuè zhōng xún lí kāi wēi ruǎn , suí hòu kāi shǐ tuī jìn zhè gè xīn xiàng mù .

Fritz left Microsoft in mid-July and subsequently began working on this new project.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced cí

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 茨 (cí) mean in Chinese?
茨 (cí) primarily means "caltrop or puncture vine (tribulus terrestris)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2403 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 茨 and 资?
茨 (cí) and 资 (zī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 贝 (same 次 component).
How many strokes does 茨 have?
茨 is written with 9 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 茨?
The radical associated with 茨 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 茨?
茨 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 次 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹次 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 茨?
Common words with 茨 include: 盖茨 (gài cí, "Gates (name)"); 霍格沃茨 (huò gé wò cí, "Hogwarts (Harry Potter)"); 罗伯茨 (luó bó cí, "Roberts"); 阿尔茨海默 (ā ěr cí hǎi mò, "Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915), German psychiatrist and neuropathologist"); 波茨坦 (bō cí tǎn, "Potsdam, near Berlin, Germany"). There are over 39 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 茨 (cí)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cí: 瓷 (chinaware). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 茨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 茨 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 茨 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.