(zhì): flag

(zhì) is a Chinese character meaning “flag.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2639 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, curtain. Its radical form (cloth) appears in many related characters such as (shī, teacher), (bāng, to help), (cháng, always).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. flag

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticcurtain

Decomposition: ⿰巾只 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qí zhìensign
dú shù yī zhìlit. to fly one's banner on a solitary tree (idiom)
qí zhì xiān míngto show one's colors
bié shù yī zhìlit. to fly one's banner on a solitary tree (idiom)
biāo zhìbanner
huī zhìbanner
6
Total compounds
0
As first character
83
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 6 compound words: 0 as the first character, 83 as the last, and 17 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.75053,308 co-occurrences
shù
0.4391,602 co-occurrences
piāo
0.420192 co-occurrences
0.3831,416 co-occurrences
guà
0.379402 co-occurrences
xiān
0.357516 co-occurrences
lán
0.353414 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.35266 co-occurrences
shù
0.35196 co-occurrences
wěi
0.347306 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

biéshùyīzhìHSK 7+

to have a distinct style of one's own

phrase
dúshùyīzhìHSK 7+

to develop one’s own unique style

phrase
qízhìxiānmíngHSK 7+

to have a clear-cut stand; one's attitude or position is clearly defined

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

红旗在风中飘扬。

Hóng qízhì zài fēng zhōng piāoyáng.

The red flag is waving in the wind.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

曹丹 摄 《金石书画》系列以“每期必有碑帖”为特色,在全国博物馆展览中独树一

cáo dān shè jīn shí shū huà xì liè yǐ měi qī bì yǒu bēi tiē wéi tè sè , zài quán guó bó wù guǎn zhǎn lǎn zhōng dú shù yī zhì .

Photo by Cao Dan. The “Bronses, Stones, Calligraphy, and Painting” series is distinguished by its commitment to featuring “at least one stele or calligraphy rubbing in every issue,” setting it apart from other museum exhibitions nationwide.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

绵阳市新闻传媒中心 供图 比赛开始前,四川21个市州球队的旗依次入场。

mián yáng shì xīn wén chuán méi zhōng xīn gōng tú bǐ sài kāi shǐ qián , sì chuān 2 1 gè shì zhōu qiú duì de qí zhì yī cì rù chǎng .

Photo courtesy of the Mianyang News Media Center. Before the match began, the flags of the teams from Sichuan’s 21 prefectures and cities entered the stadium one by one.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

当日对谈核心聚焦《不虚此生》独树一的文学电影化特质。

dāng rì duì tán hé xīn jù jiāo bù xū cǐ shēng dú shù yī zhì de wén xué diàn yǐng huà tè zhì .

The discussion that day centered on the unique literary qualities of *A Life Well Lived* as a film adaptation.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

戏曲人物长廊中一个独树一的“文武唐僧”形象也由此被塑造而出。

xì qū rén wù cháng láng zhōng yī gè dú shù yī zhì de wén wǔ táng sēng xíng xiàng yě yóu cǐ bèi sù zào ér chū .

Thus, a unique portrayal of “Tang Seng as both a scholar and a warrior” emerged in the Gallery of Opera Characters.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

在双向融合的创作探索中,她逐渐形成独树一、中西合璧的艺术风格。

zài shuāng xiàng róng gě de chuàng zuò tàn suǒ zhōng , tā zhú jiān xíng chéng dú shù yī zhì , zhōng xī gě 璧 de yì shù fēng gé .

Through her creative exploration of two-way integration, she has gradually developed a distinctive artistic style that blends Chinese and Western elements.

Tatoeba

反叛者践踏敌人的旗,以示挑衅。

Fǎnpàn zhě jiàntà dírén de qízhì, yǐ shì tiǎoxìn.

Rebels stomped on the enemy’s flags as a sign of defiance.

Tatoeba

是国家象征。

Qízhì shì guójiā xiàngzhēng.

A flag is a national symbol.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 巾 (curtain) component

Radical Family — Characters sharing the cloth radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 帜 (zhì) mean in Chinese?
帜 (zhì) primarily means "flag." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2639 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 帜 and 识?
帜 (zhì) and 识 (shí) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 巾 vs 讠 (same 只 component).
How many strokes does 帜 have?
帜 is written with 8 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 帜?
The radical associated with 帜 is 巾 (cloth). This radical appears in many characters related to cloth.
What are the components of 帜?
帜 is composed of: 巾 (semantic), 只 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰巾只 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 帜?
Common words with 帜 include: 旗帜 (qí zhì, "ensign"); 独树一帜 (dú shù yī zhì, "lit. to fly one's banner on a solitary tree (idiom)"); 旗帜鲜明 (qí zhì xiān míng, "to show one's colors"); 别树一帜 (bié shù yī zhì, "lit. to fly one's banner on a solitary tree (idiom)"); 标帜 (biāo zhì, "banner"). There are over 6 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 帜 (zhì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhì: 职 (job, duty), 只 (classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc), 知 (to know), 直 (Zhi (c. 2000 BC), fifth of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 Farmer God), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 帜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 帜 and the traditional form is 幟.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.