(zhì): system, to control, to regulate

(zhì) is a Chinese character meaning “system.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (knife). It ranks #163 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, knife. Its radical form (knife) appears in many related characters such as (fēn, to divide), (bié, to leave), (dào, to reach).

Native pronunciation
HSK 5Radical: knife8 strokesFrequency #163

Definitions

  1. system
  2. to control
  3. to regulate

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticknife

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

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbkòng zhìto control5
verbzhì zàoto manufacture5
verbzhì zuòto make5
verb/nounxiàn zhìto restrict5
fù zhìto duplicate5
zhì dìngto draw up5
nounzhì dùsystem (e.g. political, adminstrative etc)5
yì zhìto inhibit6
verblù zhìto record (video or audio)6
nounjī zhìmechanism6
nounzhì pǐnproducts6
verbyán zhìto research and manufacture5
verbdìng zhìcustom-made6
verbzhì dìngto work out5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qiáng zhìto force
guǎn zhìto control
kè zhìto restrain
tè zhìspecially made
dǐ zhìto resist
tǐ zhìsystem
huì zhìto draw
jié zhìto control
qiān zhìto control
jiān zhìto supervise the manufacture of
mù zhìwooden
féng zhìto sew
fǎ zhìlegal system and institutions
biān zhìto establish (a unit or department)
tiáo zhìto modulate
100
Total compounds
8
As first character
92
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 8 as the first character, 92 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

kòng
0.743777,170 co-occurrences
0.61888,104 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.590364,062 co-occurrences
è
0.50511,578 co-occurrences
zào
0.499249,263 co-occurrences
0.497418,571 co-occurrences
huì
0.48434,374 co-occurrences
gǎi
0.473252,786 co-occurrences
cái
0.47366,588 co-occurrences
zuò
0.471544,464 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

bā qí zhì dùHSK 6+

Eight Banners system, the military and social organization of the Manchus between c. 1500 and 1911

phrase
chūqízhìshèngHSK 5+

to win by a surprise move

phrase
fēngjiàn zhìdùHSK 5+

feudal system; feudalism

noun
jīng jì zhì cáiHSK 5+

economic sanctions

phrase
rú fǎ pào zhìHSK 6+

lit. to follow the recipe (idiom); to follow the same plan

phrase
rúfǎpáozhìHSK 7+

to follow a set pattern; to follow suit

phrase
shí liù jìn zhìHSK 5+

hexadecimal

phrase
yīndìzhìyíHSK 5+

to formulate strategies according to local conditions

phrase
yīnshízhìyíHSK 5+

to use methods appropriate to the current situation

phrase
zì dòng kòng zhìHSK 5+

automatic control

phrase

Showing 10 of 12 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个度已经实施多年,效果非常显著。

Zhè gè zhìdù yǐjīng shíshī duō nián, xiàoguǒ fēicháng xiǎnzhù.

This system has been implemented for many years with very significant results.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...联手 进击AI记忆体...力积电扛试产与造重任

. . . lián shǒu jìn jī A I jì yì tǐ . . . lì jī diàn gāng shì chǎn yǔ zhì zào chóng rèn

... Join forces to attack AI memory... PSMC shoulders the heavy responsibility of trial production and manufacturing

三立新聞網Feb 2026

药设备热起来 皇将开年营收就翻倍成长

zhì yào shè bèi rè qǐ lái huáng jiāng kāi nián yíng shōu jiù fān bèi chéng cháng

Pharmaceutical equipment is heating up, and the revenue of the emperor will double at the beginning of the year

風傳媒Feb 2026

...战就没有iPhone了?专家指苹果算力、造太依赖两岸:决策近乎失职

. . . zhàn jiù méi yǒu i P h o n e le ? zhuān jiā zhǐ píng guǒ suàn lì , zhì zào tài yī lài liǎng àn : jué cè jìn hū shī zhí

... There will be no iPhone in battle? Experts point out that Apple's computing power and manufacturing are too dependent on both sides of the strait: decision-making is almost derelict

百度新闻Feb 2026

英国男子打砸香港机场 包中还搜出疑似管药品

yīng guó nán zǐ dǎ zá xiāng gǎng jī chǎng bāo zhōng hái sōu chū yí shì guǎn zhì yào pǐn

British man vandalizes Hong Kong airport, suspected controlled substances found in his bag.

百度新闻Feb 2026

泽连斯基称乌克兰对白俄罗斯总统实施

zé lián sī jī chèn wū kè lán duì bái é luó sī zǒng tǒng shí shī zhì cái

Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine has imposed sanctions on the President of Belarus.

Tatoeba

怎么用路由器限网速?

Zěnme yòng lùyóuqì xiànzhì wǎng sù?

How can a router be used to limit network speed?

Tatoeba

自己会说的语言可不简单呀!

Kòngzhì zìjǐ huì shuō de yǔyán kěbu jiǎndān ya!

It's not easy to control the languages that you can speak!

Tatoeba

公司为他们提供服。

Gōngsī wèi tāmen tígōng zhìfú.

The company provides them with uniforms.

Tatoeba

她叫我们不要造噪音。

Tā jiào wǒmen bù yào zhìzào zàoyīn.

She told us not to make a noise.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 制 (zhì) mean in Chinese?
制 (zhì) primarily means "system." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #163 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 制 have?
制 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 制?
The radical associated with 制 is 刂 (knife). This radical appears in many characters related to knife.
What are common words containing 制?
Common words with 制 include: 控制 (kòng zhì, "to control"); 制造 (zhì zào, "to manufacture"); 制作 (zhì zuò, "to make"); 限制 (xiàn zhì, "to restrict"); 复制 (fù zhì, "to duplicate"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 制 (zhì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhì: 支 (to support), 汁 (juice), 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 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 制 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 制 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.