诫 (jiè): commandment, to prohibit

诫 (jiè) is a Chinese character meaning “commandment.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (structural) and 戒 (structural). It ranks #2613 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 诫 words 讠 of warning 戒; 戒 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 讠 speech9 strokesFrequency #2613讠 structural 戒 structural

Definitions

commandment
to prohibit

Etymology & Origin

诫

ideographicWords 讠 of warning 戒; 戒 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰讠戒 (layout: left-right)

Components:讠structural 戒structural

Stroke Order

Practice writing 诫 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
告诫	gào jiè	to warn
训诫	xùn jiè	to reprimand
劝诫	quàn jiè	to exhort
小惩大诫	xiǎo chéng dà jiè	lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom)
十诫	shí jiè	ten commandments
诫命	jiè mìng	commandment
规诫	guī jiè	to warn (against some course)
警诫	jǐng jiè	variant of 警戒[jing3 jie4]
谆谆告诫	zhūn zhūn gào jiè	to repeatedly advise sb earnestly (idiom)

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

诫 appears in 9 compound words: 11 as the first character, 89 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 诫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

劝quàn

0.558936 co-occurrences

勉miǎn

0.510534 co-occurrences

告gào

0.5014,338 co-occurrences

训xùn

0.4931,230 co-occurrences

命mìng

0.4132,094 co-occurrences

谈tán

0.402324 co-occurrences

条tiáo

0.383786 co-occurrences

十shí

0.3742,682 co-occurrences

勿wù

0.37478 co-occurrences

厉lì

0.36654 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

小惩大诫xiǎo chéng dà jièHSK 7+

lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom); to criticize former mistakes firmly to prevent large scale repetition

phrase

谆谆告诫zhūnzhūngàojièHSK 7+

to tirelessly counsel; to admonish repeatedly

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请诫细阅读合同条款，再签字确认。

qǐng jiè xì yuè dòu gě tóng tiáo kuǎn , zài qiān zì què rèn .

Please carefully review the contract terms before signing to confirm.

NewtalkApr 2026

...3球员深夜喧哗惹议球团罚款惩处并严正告诫

. . . 3 qiú yuán shēn yè xuān huā rě yì qiú tuán fá kuǎn chéng chǔ bìng yán zhèng gào jiè

...Three players face backlash for late-night disturbance; team imposes fines and issues stern warnings

Tatoeba

他告诫他们不要吵闹。

Tā gàojiè tāmen bù yào chǎonào.

He admonished them for being noisy.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 诫 (jiè) mean in Chinese?

诫 (jiè) primarily means "commandment." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2613 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 诫 have?

诫 is written with 9 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 诫?

The radical associated with 诫 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.

What are the components of 诫?

诫 is composed of: 讠 (structural), 戒 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠戒 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 诫?

Common words with 诫 include: 告诫 (gào jiè, "to warn"); 训诫 (xùn jiè, "to reprimand"); 劝诫 (quàn jiè, "to exhort"); 小惩大诫 (xiǎo chéng dà jiè, "lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom)"); 十诫 (shí jiè, "ten commandments"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 诫 (jiè)?

Several characters share the pronunciation jiè: 接 (to receive, to connect), 结 (knot, result), 界 (world, boundary), 节 (festival, section), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 诫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

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

Practice writing 诫 with real-time feedback

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