赐 (cì): bestow

赐 (cì) is a Chinese character meaning “bestow.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 贝 (semantic) and 易 (phonetic). It ranks #2039 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 赐 money. Its radical form 贝 (shell) appears in many related characters such as 贵 (guì, expensive), 负 (fù, to bear), 责 (zé, responsibility).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 贝 shell12 strokesFrequency #2039贝 semantic 易 phonetic

Definitions

bestow

Etymology & Origin

赐

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿰贝易 (layout: left-right)

Components:贝semantic 易phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
赐予verb	cì yǔ	to grant
恩赐verb	ēn cì	to bestow (favors, charity etc)
赐福verb	cì fú	to bless
赏赐noun	shǎng cì	to bestow a reward
赐教verb	cì jiào	(honorific) to impart one's wisdom
天赐noun	tiān cì	bestowed by heaven
御赐verb	yù cì	to be bestowed by the emperor
拜你所赐	bài nǐ suǒ cì	(derog.) this is all thanks to you!
赐给verb	cì gěi	to bestow
赐与	cì yǔ	variant of 賜予\|赐予
赐死verb	cì sǐ	(of a ruler) to order sb to commit suicide (in lieu of execution)
速赐康	sù cì kāng	(Tw) (coll.) pentazocine (a synthetic opioid analgesic)
端木赐	duān mù cì	Duanmu Ci (520 BC-446 BC), disciple of Confucius, also known as Zi Gong 子貢\|子贡
不吝赐教phrase	bù lìn cì jiào	to be so kind as to enlighten me
赐顾verb	cì gù	to honor (sb) by one's visit

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

赐 appears in 21 compound words: 48 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 10 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 赐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

赏shǎng

0.6323,458 co-occurrences

绯fēi

0.547256 co-occurrences

给gěi

0.4893,272 co-occurrences

予yǔ

0.4862,667 co-occurrences

爵jué

0.4481,732 co-occurrences

钞chāo

0.445180 co-occurrences

钦qīn

0.444452 co-occurrences

姓xìng

0.4321,614 co-occurrences

祭jì

0.4291,074 co-occurrences

葬zàng

0.428990 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

不吝赐教bùlìncìjiàoHSK 7+

to not be stinting with comments or criticism

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

皇帝赐给他一块金牌，表彰他的功绩。

Huángdì cì gěi tā yí kuài jīnpái, biǎozhāng tā de gōngjì.

The emperor bestowed upon him a gold medal to recognize his achievements.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

既然生活赐予我困难，那我便要去享受这个困难。

jì rán shēng huó cì yú wǒ kùn nán , nà wǒ biàn yāo qù xiǎng shòu zhè gè kùn nán .

Since life has given me difficulties, I’m going to make the most of them.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

曲水县文化和旅游局局长赐仁拉姆说，预计今年游客接待量和旅游收入将再上新台阶。

qū shuǐ xiàn wén huà hé lǚ yóu jú jú cháng cì rén lā mǔ shuō , yù jì jīn nián yóu kè jiē dài liàng hé lǚ yóu shōu rù jiāng zài shàng xīn tái jiē .

Ci Ren Lhamo, Director of the Qushui County Bureau of Culture and Tourism, said that the number of tourists and tourism revenue are expected to reach new heights this year.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

雍正朝承袭尊文善学的崇文风气，以联诗唱和、御笔颁赐等方式维系君臣之间的文墨情谊。

Yōng zhèng cháo chéng xí zūn wén shàn xué de chóng wén fēng qì , yǐ lián shī chàng hé , yù bǐ bān cì děng fāng shì wéi xì jūn chén zhī jiān de wén mò qíng yì .

The Yongzheng reign carried on the tradition of revering literature and valuing learning, fostering literary bonds between the emperor and his ministers through activities such as composing couplets and exchanging poems, as well as through the emperor’s personal bestowal of calligraphic works.

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Apr 2026

点线交织色彩氤氲——苏天赐油画作品展

diǎn xiàn jiāo zhī sè cǎi 氤氲 — — sū tiān cì yóu huà zuò pǐn zhǎn

Where Lines Meet and Colors Blend: An Exhibition of Oil Paintings by Su Tianci

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

宋高宗赐岳飞书信让白先勇想起蒋中正

sòng gāo zōng cì yuè fēi shū xìn ràng bái xiān yǒng xiǎng qǐ 蒋 zhōng zhèng

Song Gaozong's letter to Yue Fei reminded Bai Xianyong of Jiang Zhongzheng

Tatoeba

拜电视所赐，现在的小孩都不喜欢看书了。

Bài diànshì suǒ cì, xiànzài de xiǎohái dōu bù xǐhuan kànshū le.

Thanks to television, boys and girls are apt to neglect reading books.

Tatoeba

上帝赐予我健康的身体。

Shàngdì cìyǔ wǒ jiànkāng de shēntǐ.

I'm blessed with good health.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 赐 (cì) mean in Chinese?

赐 (cì) primarily means "bestow." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2039 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 赐 and 踢?

赐 (cì) and 踢 (tī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 贝 vs 足 (same 易 component).

How many strokes does 赐 have?

赐 is written with 12 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 赐?

The radical associated with 赐 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.

What are the components of 赐?

赐 is composed of: 贝 (semantic), 易 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰贝易 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 赐?

Common words with 赐 include: 赐予 (cì yǔ, "to grant"); 恩赐 (ēn cì, "to bestow (favors, charity etc)"); 赐福 (cì fú, "to bless"); 赏赐 (shǎng cì, "to bestow a reward"); 赐教 (cì jiào, "(honorific) to impart one's wisdom"). There are over 21 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 赐 (cì)?

Several characters share the pronunciation cì: 此 (this), 次 (next in sequence), 词 (word), 刺 (thorn), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 赐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

No. The simplified form is 赐 and the traditional form is 賜.

Practice writing 赐 with real-time feedback

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