酯 (zhǐ): ester

酯 (zhǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “ester.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 酉 (semantic) and 旨 (phonetic). It ranks #3298 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 酯 chemical. Its radical form 酉 (wine) appears in many related characters such as 酗 (xù, drunk), 酝 (yùn, to brew), 配 (pèi, to join).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. ester

Etymology & Origin

酯

pictophoneticchemical

Decomposition: ⿰酉旨 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
聚酯nounjù zhǐpolyester
聚氨酯nounjù ān zhǐpolyurethane
聚碳酸酯nounjù tàn suān zhǐpolycarbonate
聚酯纤维jù zhǐ xiān wéipolyester fiber
多元酯duō yuán zhǐpolyester
氨基甲酸酯类化合物ān jī jiǎ suān zhǐ lèi huà hé wùcarbamate
有机磷酸酯类yǒu jī lín suān zhǐ lèiorganophosphate
内酯nèi zhǐlactone
甘油三酯noungān yóu sān zhǐtriglyceride
丁内酯noundīng nèi zhǐbutyrolactone
酯化zhǐ huàesterification
三酸甘油酯nounsān suān gān yóu zhǐtriglyceride
对羟基苯甲酸酯duì qiǎng jī běn jiǎ suān zhǐparaben (chemistry)
邻苯二甲酸酯lín běn èr jiǎ suān zhǐphthalate (chemistry)
三尖杉酯碱sān jiān shān zhǐ jiǎnharringtonine (chemistry)
26
Total compounds
8
As first character
62
As last character
31
As middle character

酯 appears in 26 compound words: 8 as the first character, 62 as the last, and 31 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 酯 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

托tuō
0.61711 co-occurrences
依yī
0.58811 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

聚酯纤维jù zhǐ xiān wéi

polyester fiber

phrase

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

驱蚊酯 和 派卡瑞丁 刺激性较低,适合儿童和敏感肌肤,防护时间约4至8小时。

qū wén zhǐ hé pài kǎ ruì dīng cì jī xìng jiào dī , shì hé ér tóng hé mǐn gǎn jī fū , fáng hù shí jiān yuē 4 zhì 8 xiǎo shí .

DEET and picaridin are less irritating and suitable for children and those with sensitive skin; they provide protection for approximately 4 to 8 hours.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

刘双介绍,生物降解塑料袋的分子链中含有大量酯键。

liú shuāng jiè shào , shēng wù jiàng jiě sù liào dài de fēn zǐ liàn zhōng hán yǒu dà liàng zhǐ jiàn .

Liu Shuang explained that the molecular chains of biodegradable plastic bags contain a large number of ester bonds.

少数派Aug 2026

或者这么说,这个黄色和粉色都看上去很像诺基亚当年在聚碳酸酯壳上会挑的选择。

huò zhě zhè me shuō , zhè gè huáng sè hé fěn sè dōu kàn shàng qù hěn xiàng nuò jī yà dāng nián zài jù tàn suān zhǐ qiào shàng huì tiāo de xuǎn zé .

Or to put it another way, both this yellow and this pink look a lot like the colors Nokia used to choose for its polycarbonate cases back in the day.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

驱蚊酯适用于6月龄以上人群和孕妇等。

qū wén zhǐ shì yòng yú 6 yuè líng yǐ shàng rén qún hé yùn fù děng .

DEET is suitable for individuals 6 months of age and older, as well as pregnant women.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

而甘油三酯这么高,随时可能诱发急性胰腺炎——一种起病急、进展快、严重时会要命的病。

ér gān yóu sān zhǐ zhè me gāo , suí shí kě néng yòu fā jí xìng yí xiàn yán — — yī zhǒng qǐ bìng jí , jìn zhǎn kuài , yán chóng shí huì yào mìng de bìng .

With triglyceride levels this high, acute pancreatitis—a condition that begins suddenly, progresses rapidly, and can be life-threatening in severe cases—could be triggered at any time.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 酉 (chemical) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 酯 (zhǐ) mean in Chinese?
酯 (zhǐ) primarily means "ester." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3298 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 酯 and 稽?
酯 (zhǐ) and 稽 (jī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 酉 vs 禾 (same 旨 component).
How many strokes does 酯 have?
酯 is written with 13 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 酯?
The radical associated with 酯 is 酉 (wine). This radical appears in many characters related to wine.
What are the components of 酯?
酯 is composed of: 酉 (semantic), 旨 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰酉旨 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 酯?
Common words with 酯 include: 聚酯 (jù zhǐ, "polyester"); 聚氨酯 (jù ān zhǐ, "polyurethane"); 聚碳酸酯 (jù tàn suān zhǐ, "polycarbonate"); 聚酯纤维 (jù zhǐ xiān wéi, "polyester fiber"); 多元酯 (duō yuán zhǐ, "polyester"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
Is 酯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 酯 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 酯 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.