圾 (jī): garbage

圾 (jī) is a Chinese character meaning “garbage.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic) and 及 (phonetic). It ranks #2514 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 圾 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. garbage

Etymology & Origin

圾

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿰土及 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 圾

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
垃圾nounlā jītrash4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
垃圾桶nounlā jī tǒngrubbish bin
垃圾箱nounlā jī xiāngrubbish can
垃圾堆nounlā jī duīgarbage heap
垃圾车nounlā jī chēgarbage truck (or other vehicle)
生活垃圾shēng huó lā jīdomestic garbage
垃圾分类lā jī fēn lèiwaste sorting
垃圾食品nounlā jī shí pǐnjunk food
垃圾工nounlā jī gōnggarbage collector
垃圾电邮lā jī diàn yóusee 垃圾郵件|垃圾邮件
垃圾邮件nounlā jī yóu jiànjunk mail
垃圾股nounlā jī gǔjunk bonds
洋垃圾nounyáng lā jītrash or used goods from Western countries
垃圾筒nounlā jī tǒngtrashcan
14
Total compounds
0
As first character
21
As last character
79
As middle character

圾 appears in 14 compound words: 0 as the first character, 21 as the last, and 79 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 圾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

垃lā
0.97623,070 co-occurrences
桶tǒng
0.6541,663 co-occurrences
谍dié
0.62813 co-occurrences
焚fén
0.531903 co-occurrences
扔rēng
0.513250 co-occurrences
堆duī
0.512894 co-occurrences
埋mái
0.489666 co-occurrences
捡jiǎn
0.47466 co-occurrences
袋dài
0.452436 co-occurrences
掩yǎn
0.445370 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

垃圾分类lā jī fēn lèiHSK 5+

waste sorting; waste separation

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

垃圾桶满了,需要及时清理,否则会有异味。

Lājī tǒng mǎn le, xūyào jíshí qīnglǐ, fǒuzé huì yǒu yìwèi.

The trash can is full; it needs to be cleaned promptly, otherwise there will be odors.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

牛池湾纪律部队宿舍失火 近天台后楼梯垃圾桶焚毁

niú chí wān jì lǜ bù duì sù shě shī huǒ jìn tiān tái hòu lóu tī lā jī tǒng fén huǐ

A fire broke out in the Niu Chi Wan Disciplined Forces dormitory and burned the trash can on the back stairs near the roof

BastillepostFeb 2026

...热门景点及露营地录26宗执法 包括乱抛垃圾、非法生火等

. . . rè mén jǐng diǎn jí lù yíng dì lù 2 6 zōng zhí fǎ bāo kuò luàn pāo lā jī , fēi fǎ shēng huǒ děng

... Popular attractions and campsites recorded 26 law enforcement cases, including littering, illegal fires, etc

StheadlineFeb 2026

巨型Hello Kitty弃垃圾桶旁 将军澳街坊目击前传后传 网民忆凶案...

jù xíng H e l l o K i t t y qì lā jī tǒng páng jiāng jūn ào jiē fāng mù jī qián chuán hòu chuán wǎng mín yì xiōng àn . . .

Giant Hello Kitty abandoned next to the trash can Tseung Kwan O neighborhood witnessed the prequel and sequel Netizens recalled the murder...

百度新闻Feb 2026

张艺谋谈间谍通过“垃圾桶交接加密手机”:国安同志说..

zhāng yì móu tán jiān dié tōng guò lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē jiā mì shǒu jī guó ān tóng zhì shuō . .

Zhang Yimou on spies handing over encrypted cell phones through "trash cans": State Security comrades say...

百度新闻Feb 2026

张艺谋回应在电影《惊蛰无声》中“间谍在垃圾桶交接手..

zhāng yì móu huí yīng zài diàn yǐng jīng 蛰 mó shēng zhōng jiān dié zài lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē shǒu . .

Zhang Yimou responds to "spies exchanging hands in garbage cans" in the movie "The Sting is Silent...

Tatoeba

很多人跳过栏杆,还丢垃圾。

Hěn duō rén tiào guo lángān, hái diū lājī.

A lot of people climb the railing, and even litter.

Tatoeba

汤姆屯了很多垃圾。

Tāngmǔ tún le hěn duō lājī.

Tom has accumulated a lot of junk.

Tatoeba

给丢到垃圾桶里去。

Gěi diū dào lājītǒng lǐ qù.

Bung it in the bin.

Tatoeba

河对岸有很多的垃圾。

Hé duì'àn yǒu hěn duō de lājī.

There's a lot of trash on the far bank of the river.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 圾 (jī) mean in Chinese?
圾 (jī) primarily means "garbage." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2514 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 圾 and 吸?
圾 (jī) and 吸 (xī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 土 vs 口 (same 及 component).
How many strokes does 圾 have?
圾 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 圾?
The radical associated with 圾 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 圾?
圾 is composed of: 土 (semantic), 及 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰土及 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 圾?
Common words with 圾 include: 垃圾 (lā jī, "trash"); 垃圾桶 (lā jī tǒng, "rubbish bin"); 垃圾箱 (lā jī xiāng, "rubbish can"); 垃圾堆 (lā jī duī, "garbage heap"); 垃圾车 (lā jī chē, "garbage truck (or other vehicle)"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 圾 (jī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jī: 级 (level, grade), 机 (machine, opportunity), 己 (self), 几 (how many), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 圾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 圾 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 圾 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.