(zhì): wisdom

(zhì) is a Chinese character meaning “wisdom.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #885 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, known 知 clearly 日; 知 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (sun) appears in many related characters such as (, sun, day), (zǎo, early, morning), (shí, time, hour).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. wisdom

Etymology & Origin

ideographicKnown 知 clearly 日; 知 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿱知日 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

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

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
nounzhì huìwisdom5
nounzhì lìintelligence6
noun/adjectivezhì néngintelligent5
rén gōng zhì néngartificial intelligence (AI)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
lǐ zhìreason
míng zhìsensible
ruò zhìweak-minded
zhì shāngIQ (intelligence quotient)
xīn zhìwisdom
shén zhìmind
zhì lìChile
jī zhìquick-witted
ruì zhìwise and farsighted
zhì zhěsage
cái zhìability and wisdom
zhì náng tuánthink tank
míng zhì zhī jǔsensible act
cōng ming cái zhìintelligence and ability
zú zhì duō móuresourceful
90
Total compounds
46
As first character
26
As last character
29
As middle character

appears in 90 compound words: 46 as the first character, 26 as the last, and 29 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.

huì
0.721114,740 co-occurrences
jiǎn
0.67022,890 co-occurrences
kuān
0.51922,986 co-occurrences
xiào
0.51024,756 co-occurrences
rén
0.48529,352 co-occurrences
néng
0.466103,416 co-occurrences
duān
0.45624,744 co-occurrences
náng
0.4304,284 co-occurrences
yǒng
0.4119,846 co-occurrences
0.40554,228 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

cōngmíngcáizhìHSK 5+

cleverness and wisdom

phrase
dàzhìrúyúHSK 7+

synonym of 大智若愚 (dàzhìruòyú)

phrase
dàzhìruòyúHSK 7+

having great intelligence but appearing foolish; a man of great wisdom appearing slow-witted

phrase
jízhōngshēngzhìHSK 5+

to suddenly come up with a solution in an emergency

phrase
jiànrénjiànzhìHSK 7+

different people have different views; opinions differ; there's no accounting for taste

phrase
lìlìngzhìhūnHSK 7+

to be blinded by the lust for gains; to lose one's head because of greed

phrase
míng zhì zhī jǔHSK 5+

sensible act

phrase
qíng jí zhì shēngHSK 5+

inspiration in a moment of desperation (idiom); also written 情急之下

phrase
qíng xù zhì shāngHSK 5+

emotional intelligence (EQ)

phrase
réngōng zhìhuìHSK 5+

artificial intelligence

noun
sèlìngzhìhūnHSK 7+

sexual desire causes a person to lose their wits

phrase
shī zhāng shī zhìHSK 5+

out of one's mind

phrase

Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

能手机已经成为现代人生活中不可或缺的工具。

Zhìnéng shǒujī yǐjīng chéngwéi xiàndài rén shēnghuó zhōng bù kě huòquē de gōngjù.

Smartphones have become an indispensable tool in modern life.

百度新闻Feb 2026

大年初一,浙大发顶刊论文:用人工能为膜蛋白造“装..

dà nián chū yī , zhè dà fā dǐng kān lún wén yòng rén gōng zhì néng wéi mó dàn bái zào zhuāng . .

On the first day of the Chinese New Year, ZJU published a top paper on the use of artificial intelligence for membrane proteins...

百度新闻Feb 2026

多国媒体:春晚人形机器人表演展现中国人工能飞速发..

duō guó méi tī chūn wǎn rén xíng jī qì rén biǎo yǎn zhǎn xiàn zhōng guó rén gōng zhì néng fēi sù fā . .

Multinational media: Spring Festival Gala humanoid robot performance shows China's rapid development of artificial intelligence...

百度新闻Feb 2026

央企大拜年|惠领航,“翼”马当先!

yāng qǐ dà bài nián zhì huì lǐng háng , yì mǎ dāng xiān !

State-Owned Enterprises New Year Greetings | Smart Leadership, Leading the Way!

百度新闻Feb 2026

中国造硬核力 春晚·机器·人

zhōng guó zhì zào yìng hé lì chūn wǎn jī qì rén

China's Smart Manufacturing Powerhouse: Spring Festival Gala · Machines · Humans

百度新闻Feb 2026

列国鉴|记者观察:食品贴上警示标签 利欲全民瘦身..

liè guó jiàn jì zhě guàn chá shí pǐn tiē shǎng jǐng shì biāo qiān zhì lì yù quán mín shòu shēn . .

International Insights | Journalist's Perspective: Chile Aims for Nationwide Weight Loss with Warning Labels on Food Products..

Tatoeba

用大慧做股票,说明您对投资是认真的!

Yòng dàzhìhuì zuò gǔpiào, shuōmíng nín duì tóuzī shì rènzhēn de!

Managing your stocks with Big Wisdom shows that you are serious about investing!

Tatoeba

愚蠢是慧的缺乏。

Yúchǔn shì zhìhuì de quēfá.

Stupidity is a lack of intelligence.

Tatoeba

他的忠告总是很明

Tā de zhōnggào zǒngshì hěn míngzhì.

His advice is always very sensible.

Tatoeba

他天生拥有完美的慧。

Tā tiānshēng yōngyǒu wánměi de zhìhuì.

He is gifted with perfect wisdom.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 智 (zhì) mean in Chinese?
智 (zhì) primarily means "wisdom." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #885 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 智 have?
智 is written with 12 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 智?
The radical associated with 智 is 日 (sun). This radical appears in many characters related to sun.
What are the components of 智?
智 is composed of: 知 (structural), 日 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱知日 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 智?
Common words with 智 include: 理智 (lǐ zhì, "reason"); 智慧 (zhì huì, "wisdom"); 明智 (míng zhì, "sensible"); 弱智 (ruò zhì, "weak-minded"); 智商 (zhì shāng, "IQ (intelligence quotient)"). There are over 90 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 智 (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 智 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 智 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.