棘 (jí): thorns
棘 (jí) is a Chinese character meaning “thorns.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 朿 (phonetic) and 朿 (phonetic). It ranks #2676 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 棘 thorn. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).
Definitions
- thorns
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 棘 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 棘手adjective | jí shǒu | thorny (problem) |
| 荆棘noun | jīng jí | thistles and thorns |
| 棘轮noun | jí lún | ratchet |
| 披荆斩棘phrase | pī jīng zhǎn jí | lit. to cut one's way through thistles and thorns (idiom) |
| 棘皮动物noun | jí pí dòng wù | echinoderm, the phylum containing sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc |
| 棘鼻青岛龙 | jí bí qīng dǎo lóng | Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus, a 10 meter long hadrosaur with a single horn on its duck-billed snout |
| 棘楚 | jí chǔ | thorny problem |
| 沙棘noun | shā jí | (botany) sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) |
| 食荼卧棘 | shí tú wò jí | to eat bitter fruit and lie on thorns (idiom) |
| 腔棘鱼 | qiāng jí yú | coelacanth |
| 荆棘载途 | jīng jí zài tú | lit. a path covered in brambles |
棘 appears in 11 compound words: 45 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 18 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 棘 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
棘手的问题需要智慧解决。
Jíshǒu de wèntí xūyào zhìhuì jiějué.
Thorny problems require wisdom to solve.
更棘手的是，国产 GLE 今天面对的市场，早已不是四年前的市场。
gēng jí shǒu de shì , guó chǎn G L E jīn tiān miàn duì de shì chǎng , zǎo yǐ bù shì sì nián qián de shì chǎng .
What makes matters even more challenging is that the market the domestically produced GLE faces today is no longer the same as it was four years ago.
但对神行者 8 来说，眼下最棘手的问题可能不在产品力，而在品牌认知。
dàn duì shén háng zhě 8 lái shuō , yǎn xià zuì jí shǒu de wèn tí kě néng bù zài chǎn pǐn lì , ér zài pǐn pái rèn zhī .
But for the Shenxing 8, the most pressing issue right now may not be product performance, but brand awareness.
埃安面对的情况有些相似，也棘手得多。
Āi ān miàn duì de qíng kuàng yǒu xiē xiāng sì , yě jí shǒu dé duō .
Aion faces a somewhat similar situation, though it is far more challenging.
拉丁美洲耶稣受难日巡游 信徒赤脚戴荆棘冠冕展虔诚
lā dīng měi zhōu yē 稣 shòu nán rì xún yóu xìn tú chì jiǎo dài jīng jí guàn 冕 zhǎn qián chéng
Latin American Good Friday Processions: Devotees Walk Barefoot and Wear Crowns of Thorns to Show Their Devotion
网骗成各国最棘手挑战 经济损失令人震惊
wǎng piàn chéng gè guó zuì jí shǒu tiāo zhàn jīng jì sǔn shī lìng rén zhèn jīng
Online fraud has become the most difficult challenge in various countries The economic losses are shocking
对于这个棘手的问题，无论我尝试多少次，结果都会以失败告终。
Duìyú zhège jíshǒu de wèntí, wúlùn wǒ chángshì duōshao cì, jiéguǒ dōu huì yǐ shībài gàozhōng.
Regardless how many times I try to solve this nasty problem, I always end up failing.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 棘 (jí) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 棘 and 策?
How many strokes does 棘 have?
What is the radical of 棘?
What are the components of 棘?
What are common words containing 棘?
What characters sound the same as 棘 (jí)?
Is 棘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 棘 with real-time feedback
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