(): this, these

() is a Chinese character meaning “this.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #116 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, sitting man. Its radical form (stop) appears in many related characters such as (zhèng, straight), (zhǐ, to stop), (, a step).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. this
  2. these

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticsitting man

Decomposition: ⿰止匕 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
pronounrú cǐlike this5
conjunctionyīn cǐthus4
pronounbǐ cǐeach other5
conjunctionwèi cǐfor this reason6
nouncǐ kèthis moment6
adverbcóng cǐfrom now on4
nouncǐ shínow5
conjunctioncǐ wàibesides4
cǐ cìthis time4
yóu cǐhereby5
nouncǐ hòuafter this5
nouncǐ qiánbefore this5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dào cǐ wéi zhǐto stop at this point
cǐ shìthis matter
chú cǐ zhī wàiapart from this
yǔ cǐ tóng shíat the same time
jiù cǐat this point
cǐ dìhere
cǐ shí cǐ kèat this very moment
zhū rú cǐ lèithings like this (idiom)
yǐ cǐwith this
cǐ chùthis place
bù jǐn rú cǐnot only that, but ...
zhì cǐup until now
yǒu jiàn yú cǐin view of this
bù guò rú cǐ(idiom) nothing more than this
cǐ xíngthis trip
94
Total compounds
30
As first character
34
As last character
36
As middle character

appears in 94 compound words: 30 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 36 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.

yīn
0.7091,950,048 co-occurrences
wài
0.538815,994 co-occurrences
0.531101,989 co-occurrences
0.452288,745 co-occurrences
0.410290,376 co-occurrences
zhàn
0.407273,462 co-occurrences
chú
0.403120,462 co-occurrences
hòu
0.400268,230 co-occurrences
zài
0.397796,350 co-occurrences
shí
0.375212,646 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (32)

bǐ chàng cǐ héHSK 5+

to chorus sb else's lead (idiom); to chime in in agreement

phrase
bǐ chàng cǐ héHSK 5+

to chorus sb else's lead (idiom); to chime in in agreement

phrase
bǐcǐ bǐcǐHSK 5+

me too; same here; you and I both

phrase
bùfēnbǐcǐHSK 5+

to share everything; to be on very intimate terms

phrase
bù guò rú cǐHSK 4+

(idiom) nothing more than this; that's all; no big deal; not very impressive

phrase
bùxūcīxíngHSK 5+

it has been worthwhile; the journey has not been made in vain; the journey has been well worthwhile

phrase
chúcǐzhīwàiHSK 4+

apart from this; in addition to this

cǐqǐbǐfúHSK 7+

synonym of 此起彼落 (cǐqǐbǐluò, “(of sounds) rising and falling; continuous; unceasing”)

phrase
cǐqǐbǐluòHSK 5+

rising and falling; continuous; unceasing

phrase
cǐshícǐkèHSK 4+

this moment; now

noun
cǐ shì tǐ dàHSK 4+

see 茲事體大|兹事体大[zi1 shi4 ti3 da4]

phrase
cǐxiāobǐzhǎngHSK 5+

something declines while something else rises

phrase

Showing 12 of 32 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

事关系重大,需要慎重考虑。

Cǐ shì guānxi zhòngdà, xūyào shènzhòng kǎolǜ.

This matter is of great importance and requires careful consideration.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...下是文化习惯还是生理现象?全球男性普遍如

. . . xià shì wén huà xí guàn hái shì shēng lǐ xiàn xiàng ? quán qiú nán xìng pǔ biàn rú cǐ ma

... Is it a cultural habit or a physiological phenomenon? Is this common among men around the world?

JiemianFeb 2026

雷军公布新一代SU7赤霞红配色,前已开启小订

léi jūn gōng bù xīn yī dài S U 7 chì xiá hóng pèi sè , cǐ qián yǐ kāi qǐ xiǎo dìng

Lei Jun announced a new generation of SU7 Caxia Red color scheme, which has been opened for small orders

LtnFeb 2026

...关税失效 中钢董事长黄建智:关税战不会因结束 恐更严厉

. . . guān shuì shī xiào zhōng gāng dǒng shì cháng huáng jiàn zhì : guān shuì zhàn bù huì yīn cǐ jié shù kǒng gēng yán lì

... Tariff failure Huang Jianzhi, chairman of China Steel: The tariff war will not end because of this, and it may be more severe

百度新闻Feb 2026

“主动了解彼的文化、价值观和生活方式”——访巴西..

zhǔ dòng le xiè bǐ cǐ de wén huā jiè zhí guàn hé shēng huó fāng shì fǎng bā xī . .

"Taking the initiative to understand each other's cultures, values and lifestyles" - Interview with Brazilian...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...铺黄金2月28日启动2026年首轮调价;前周生..

. . . pù huáng jīn yuè rì qǐ dòng nián shǒu lún diào jiè cǐ qián zhōu shēng . .

... Pave Gold launches first round of 2026 price hikes on Feb. 28; after Zhou Sheng...

Tatoeba

哪一位法官审理案?

Nǎ yī wèi fǎguān shěnlǐ cǐ àn?

Which judge heard the case?

Tatoeba

你怎么能如狼毒?

Nǐ zěnme néng rúcǐ láng dú?

How can you be so cruel?

Tatoeba

而我时在利沃夫!

ér wǒ cǐshí zài lì wò fū!

And I'm in Lvov now!

Tatoeba

不要隐瞒你对的想法。

Bù yào yǐnmán nǐ duì cǐ de xiǎngfǎ.

Don't conceal what you feel about it.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the stop radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 此 (cǐ) mean in Chinese?
此 (cǐ) primarily means "this." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #116 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 此 and 耻?
此 (cǐ) and 耻 (chǐ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 止 vs 耳 (same 止 component).
How many strokes does 此 have?
此 is written with 6 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 此?
The radical associated with 此 is 止 (stop). This radical appears in many characters related to stop.
What are the components of 此?
此 is composed of: 止 (phonetic), 匕 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰止匕 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 此?
Common words with 此 include: 如此 (rú cǐ, "like this"); 因此 (yīn cǐ, "thus"); 彼此 (bǐ cǐ, "each other"); 到此为止 (dào cǐ wéi zhǐ, "to stop at this point"); 为此 (wèi cǐ, "for this reason"). There are over 94 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 此 (cǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cǐ: 词 (word), 瓷 (chinaware), 慈 (compassionate), 辞 (to resign), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 此 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 此 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.