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, abbr. for Guizhou Province 貴州|贵州[Gui4 zhou1]), 负 (fù, to bear), 责 (zé, responsibility).

Native 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	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
天赐	tiān cì	bestowed by heaven
御赐	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	cì gěi	to bestow
赐与	cì yǔ	variant of 賜予\|赐予[ci4 yu3]
赐死	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[Zi3 Gong4]
不吝赐教	bù lìn cì jiào	to be so kind as to enlighten me
赐顾	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

0.64110,374 co-occurrences

绯fēi

0.555768 co-occurrences

给gěi

0.4969,816 co-occurrences

予yú

0.4817,992 co-occurrences

爵jué

0.4555,196 co-occurrences

钞chāo

0.451540 co-occurrences

钦qīn

0.4511,356 co-occurrences

姓xìng

0.4384,842 co-occurrences

祭jì

0.4353,222 co-occurrences

葬zàng

0.4342,970 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.

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: 词 (word), 瓷 (chinaware), 慈 (compassionate), 辞 (to resign), 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.

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