疵 (cī): blemish

疵 (cī) is a Chinese character meaning “blemish.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 疒 (semantic) and 此 (phonetic). It ranks #3085 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 疵 sickness. Its radical form 疒 (illness) appears in many related characters such as 病 (bìng, illness), 痛 (tòng, pain), 医 (yī, medicine).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 疒 illness11 strokesFrequency #3085疒 semantic 此 phonetic

Definitions

blemish

Etymology & Origin

疵

pictophoneticsickness

Decomposition: ⿸疒此 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Components:疒semantic 此phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 疵 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
瑕疵	xiá cī	blemish
吹毛求疵	chuī máo qiú cī	lit. to blow apart the hairs upon a fur to discover any defect (idiom)
大醇小疵	dà chún xiǎo cī	great despite minor blemishes
澡垢索疵	zǎo gòu suǒ cī	to wash the dirt to find a defect (idiom)

Total compounds

As first character

100

As last character

As middle character

疵 appears in 4 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 as the last, and 0 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 疵 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

瑕xiá

0.90710,350 co-occurrences

吹chuī

0.450453 co-occurrences

毛máo

0.377459 co-occurrences

娘niáng

0.345144 co-occurrences

求qiú

0.334549 co-occurrences

醇chún

0.32854 co-occurrences

序xù

0.318264 co-occurrences

茄jiā

0.31830 co-occurrences

粉fěn

0.317132 co-occurrences

候hòu

0.314306 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

吹毛求疵chuīmáoqiúcīHSK 7+

to nitpick; to pick holes; to cavel at

phrase

大醇小疵dàchúnxiǎocīHSK 7+

sound on the whole though defective in details

phrase

澡垢索疵zǎo gòu suǒ cīHSK 7+

to wash the dirt to find a defect (idiom); to find fault; to nitpick

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

疵字虽然难写，但意思很有趣。

cī zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

Although the character "疵" is difficult to write, its meaning is quite interesting.

LtnFeb 2026

经典赛》看见台湾队守备连2球瑕疵日本球评说出真心话

jīng diǎn sài kàn jiàn tái wān duì shǒu bèi lián 2 qiú xiá cī rì běn qiú píng shuō chū zhēn xīn huà

Classic" saw the Taiwanese team's defense flaw with 2 goals in a row, and the Japanese commentator told the truth

Character Family

疒 Radical Family — Characters sharing the illness radical

癌ái 疤bā 痹bì 病bìng 痴chī 瘩dá 疯fēng 疙gē 痕hén 痪huàn

Related Characters

病bìng 痛tòng 医yī 疗liáo 瘦shòu 疯fēng 疲pí 症zhèng 疾jí 疼téng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 疵 (cī) mean in Chinese?

疵 (cī) primarily means "blemish." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3085 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 疵 and 些?

疵 (cī) and 些 (xiē) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 疒 vs 二 (same 此 component).

How many strokes does 疵 have?

疵 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 疵?

The radical associated with 疵 is 疒 (illness). This radical appears in many characters related to illness.

What are the components of 疵?

疵 is composed of: 疒 (semantic), 此 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸疒此 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 疵?

Common words with 疵 include: 瑕疵 (xiá cī, "blemish"); 吹毛求疵 (chuī máo qiú cī, "lit. to blow apart the hairs upon a fur to discover any defect (idiom)"); 大醇小疵 (dà chún xiǎo cī, "great despite minor blemishes"); 澡垢索疵 (zǎo gòu suǒ cī, "to wash the dirt to find a defect (idiom)"). There are over 4 compound words containing this character.

Is 疵 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 疵 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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