矣 (yǐ): classical final particle, similar to modern 了

矣 (yǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “classical final particle, similar to modern 了.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厶 (structural) and 矢 (structural). It ranks #2036 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 矢 arrow7 strokesFrequency #2036厶 structural矢 structural

Definitions

  1. classical final particle, similar to modern 了

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
往事已矣wǎng shì yǐ yǐthe past is dead (idiom)
命不久矣mìng bù jiǔ yǐat death's door
2
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

矣 appears in 2 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 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 矣 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

谓wèi
0.407954 co-occurrences
久jiǔ
0.3903,222 co-occurrences
岂qǐ
0.388174 co-occurrences
遂suì
0.3841,374 co-occurrences
既jì
0.3801,116 co-occurrences
乃nǎi
0.3801,734 co-occurrences
蔑miè
0.366150 co-occurrences
愧kuì
0.364174 co-occurrences
祸huò
0.363222 co-occurrences
朽xiǔ
0.361168 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

命不久矣mìngbùjiǔyǐHSK 7+

to not have long to live

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

矣字的写法很特别，让我印象深刻。

yǐ zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The character "矣" has a very distinctive writing style that left a deep impression on me.

Tatoeba

巧言令色，鲜矣仁。

Qiǎoyánlìngsè, xiān yǐ rén.

Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.

Tatoeba

不下雨则矣，一下一定是倾盆大雨。

Bù xiàyǔ zé yǐ, yīxià yīdìng shì qīngpéndàyǔ.

It never rains but it pours.

Character Family

矢 Radical Family — Characters sharing the arrow radical

矮ǎi短duǎn矫jiǎo矩jǔ矢shǐ

Related Characters

短duǎn矮ǎi矢shǐ矩jǔ矫jiǎo

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǐ

一yī衣yī医yī宜yí已yǐ以yǐ椅yǐ义yì亿yì意yì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 矣 (yǐ) mean in Chinese?
矣 (yǐ) primarily means "classical final particle, similar to modern 了." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2036 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 矣 have?
矣 is written with 7 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 矣?
The radical associated with 矣 is 矢 (arrow). This radical appears in many characters related to arrow.
What are the components of 矣?
矣 is composed of: 厶 (structural), 矢 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱厶矢 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 矣?
Common words with 矣 include: 往事已矣 (wǎng shì yǐ yǐ, "the past is dead (idiom)"); 命不久矣 (mìng bù jiǔ yǐ, "at death's door"). There are over 2 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 矣 (yǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǐ: 一 (one), 衣 (clothing), 医 (medicine), 宜 (proper), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 矣 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 矣 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 矣 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

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.