系 (xì): to connect, to relate to, to tie up
系 (xì) is a Chinese character meaning “to connect.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural) and 糸 (semantic). It ranks #216 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 系 thread. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 累 (lèi, tired), 绍 (shào, to continue), 给 (gěi, give).
Definitions
- to connect
- to relate to
- to tie up
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 系 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 系
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 关系noun/verb | guān xi | relation | 3 |
| 联系verb | lián xì | variant of 聯繫|联系 | 4 |
| 没关系interjection | méi guān xi | it doesn't matter | 1 |
| 系统noun/adjective | xì tǒng | system | 5 |
| 系列noun | xì liè | series | 6 |
| 体系noun | tǐ xì | system | 6 |
| 一系列adjective | yī xì liè | a series of | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 星系noun | xīng xì | see 恆星系|恒星系 |
| 性关系noun | xìng guān xi | sexual relations |
| 太阳系proper-noun | tài yáng xì | solar system |
| 银河系proper-noun | yín hé xì | Milky Way Galaxy |
| 干系noun | gān xì | responsibility |
| 人际关系noun | rén jì guān xì | interpersonal relationship |
| 维系verb | wéi xì | to maintain |
| 联系人noun | lián xì rén | contact person |
| 系主任noun | xì zhǔ rèn | head of a (university) department |
| 神经系统 | shén jīng xì tǒng | (anatomy) nervous system |
| 系数noun | xì shù | coefficient |
| 直系亲属 | zhí xì qīn shǔ | next of kin |
| 关系网 | guān xi wǎng | network of people with whom one has dealings on the basis of "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" |
| 操作系统noun | cāo zuò xì tǒng | operating system |
| 循环系统noun | xún huán xì tǒng | circulatory system |
系 appears in 100 compound words: 12 as the first character, 66 as the last, and 22 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 系 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (18)
Showing 12 of 18 idioms containing 系.
Example Sentences
这两个事件之间存在着密切的联系。
Zhè liǎng gè shìjiàn zhī jiān cúnzài zhe mìqiè de liánxì.
There is a close connection between these two events.
美财长:与贸易夥伴联系 各国盼维持既有关税协议
měi cái cháng : yǔ mào yì 夥 bàn lián xì gè guó pàn wéi chí jì yǒu guān shuì xié yì
U.S. Treasury Secretary: Liaising with trading partners Countries hope to maintain existing tariff agreements
...中山大宅跟北方煮锅贴过年 圈中老公杜燕歌系清朝皇族后裔
. . . zhōng shān dà zhái gēn běi fāng zhǔ guō tiē guò nián juān zhōng lǎo gōng dù yān gē xì qīng cháo huáng zú hòu yì
... Zhongshan Mansion and the north cook potstickers for the New Year, and her husband Du Yange in the circle is a descendant of the Qing Dynasty royal family
...场外音丨陆玮鑫:冬奥会需引入“鹰眼挑战”系..
. . . chǎng wài yīn 丨 lù 玮 鑫 : dōng ào huì xū yǐn rù yīng yǎn tiāo zhàn xì . .
... Off-site sound丨Lu Weixin: The Winter Olympics need to introduce the "Eagle Eye Challenge" system:
中外交流|塞尔维亚举行系列新春庙会活动庆祝中国年
zhōng wài jiāo liú sāi ěr wéi yà jǔ háng xì liè xīn chūn miào huì huó dòng qìng zhù zhōng guó nián
Sino-Foreign Exchange|Serbia celebrates Chinese New Year with a series of Lunar New Year temple festivals
学习规划建议每日问答丨构建智能化军事体系
xué xí guī huá jiàn yì měi rì wèn dā 丨 gòu jiàn zhì néng huā jūn shì tī xì
Study Planning Tips: Daily Q&A丨Building an Intelligent Military System
你是不是跟长岛家有关系的？
Nǐ shì bù shì gēn Chángdǎo jiā yǒu guānxì de?
Are you related to the Nagashima family?
您的家族史跟中医有没有关系？
Nín de jiāzú shǐ gēn Zhōngyī yǒuméiyǒu guānxi?
Does your family background involve Chinese medicine?
你还和你的高中同学保持联系吗？
Nǐ hái hé nǐ de gāozhōng tóngxué bǎochí liánxì ma?
Do you keep in contact with your high school classmates?
汤姆那里有联系过你吗？
Tāngmǔ nàli yǒuliánxì guo nǐ ma?
Have you heard from Tom?
Character Family
纟 Radical Family — Characters sharing the silk radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 系 (xì) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 系 and 下?
How many strokes does 系 have?
What is the radical of 系?
What are the components of 系?
What are common words containing 系?
What characters sound the same as 系 (xì)?
Is 系 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 系 with real-time feedback
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