(zhǐ): imperial decree, purport, aim

(zhǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “imperial decree.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1671 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a spoon 匕 aimed for the mouth 日. Its radical form (sun) appears in many related characters such as (, sun, day), (zǎo, early, morning), (shí, time, hour).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. imperial decree
  2. purport
  3. aim

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA spoon 匕 aimed for the mouth 日

Decomposition: ⿱匕日 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
zhǐ yìdecree
zōng zhǐobjective
zhǔ zhǐgist
zhǐ zàito have as its purpose
yì zhǐintent
shèng zhǐimperial edict
yào zhǐthe gist (of a text or argument)
yán jìn zhǐ yuǎnsimple words with a profound meaning (idiom)
zhǔ zhǐ yǎn jiǎngkeynote speech
yì zhǐan imperial decree
tài yǐ jīn huá zōng zhǐThe Secret of the Golden Flower, a classic of Chinese Taoism published in the late 17th century
tí zhǐsubject of literary work
chuán zhǐissue a decree
zhào zhǐimperial edict
jiàng zhǐto issue an imperial edict
21
Total compounds
14
As first character
76
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 21 compound words: 14 as the first character, 76 as the last, and 10 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.

fèng
0.55121,024 co-occurrences
zōng
0.53337,020 co-occurrences
zài
0.441124,376 co-occurrences
0.4184,188 co-occurrences
jiǎo
0.394252 co-occurrences
0.3911,308 co-occurrences
zūn
0.3821,698 co-occurrences
zhāng
0.3801,980 co-occurrences
0.38023,418 co-occurrences
chéng
0.3786,798 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

yán jìn zhǐ yuǎnHSK 7+

simple words with a profound meaning (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

复一日,他坚持早起锻炼身体。

zhǐ fù yī rì , tā jiān chí zǎo qǐ duàn liàn shēn tī .

Day after day, he persisted in getting up early to exercise.

Babnet TunisieApr 2026

中国代表团访问突尼斯,在向中国市场推广突尼斯旅游目的地

zhōng guó dài biǎo tuán fǎng wèn tū ní sī , zhǐ zài xiàng zhōng guó shì chǎng tuī guǎng tū ní sī lǚ yóu mù de dì

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

...驻泗水总领事叶素在泗水吉普特拉大学发表主演讲

. . . zhù 泗 shuǐ zǒng lǐng shì xié sù zài 泗 shuǐ jí pǔ tè lā dà xué fā biǎo zhǔ zhǐ yǎn jiǎng

... Consul General in Surabaya Ye Su delivered a keynote speech at Surabaya Giputra University

It之家Feb 2026

...助长成瘾”指控,YouTube 宣称公司在为用户“创造价值”

. . . zhù cháng chéng yǐn zhǐ kòng , Y o u T u b e xuān chèn gōng sī zhǐ zài wéi yòng hù chuàng zào jià zhí

... Fueling addiction" charges, YouTube claims the company aims to "create value" for users

Tatoeba

自由在能够做所有不伤害其他人的事。

Zìyóu zhǐzài nénggòu zuò suǒyǒu bù shānghài qítā rén de shì.

Liberty consists of being able to make everything as harmless as possible.

Tatoeba

市政府举行了一次大型公会,在促进跨部门合作。

Shìzhèngfǔ jǔxíng le yícì dàxíng gōnghuì, zhǐzài cùjìn kuà bùmén hézuò.

The city government held a large conference aimed at promoting cross-departmental cooperation.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhǐ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 旨 (zhǐ) mean in Chinese?
旨 (zhǐ) primarily means "imperial decree." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1671 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 旨 have?
旨 is written with 6 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 旨?
The radical associated with 旨 is 日 (sun). This radical appears in many characters related to sun.
What are the components of 旨?
旨 is composed of: 匕 (structural), 日 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱匕日 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 旨?
Common words with 旨 include: 旨意 (zhǐ yì, "decree"); 宗旨 (zōng zhǐ, "objective"); 主旨 (zhǔ zhǐ, "gist"); 旨在 (zhǐ zài, "to have as its purpose"); 意旨 (yì zhǐ, "intent"). There are over 21 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 旨 (zhǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhǐ: 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 旨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 旨 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.