自 (zì): (bound form) self, oneself, from, since, naturally, as a matter of course
自 (zì) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) self.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 目 (structural). It ranks #43 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 自 a nose; in China, people refer to themselves by pointing to their noses. Its radical form 自 (self) appears in many related characters such as 臭 (chòu, stench).
Definitions
- (bound form) self
- oneself
- from
- since
- naturally
- as a matter of course
Etymology & Origin
pictographicA nose; in China, people refer to themselves by pointing to their noses
Stroke Order
Practice writing 自 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 自
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 自己pronoun | zì jǐ | oneself | 2 |
| 来自verb | lái zì | to come from (a place) | 3 |
| 自由adjective/noun | zì yóu | freedom | 5 |
| 自杀verb | zì shā | to kill oneself | 6 |
| 自从preposition | zì cóng | since (a time) | 5 |
| 自然noun/adjective/adverb | zì rán | nature | 4 |
| 自我pronoun | zì wǒ | the self | 6 |
| 亲自adverb | qīn zì | personally | 5 |
| 独自adverb | dú zì | alone | 5 |
| 自信verb/noun/adjective | zì xìn | to have confidence in oneself | 4 |
| 自豪adjective | zì háo | proud (of one's achievements etc) | 6 |
| 自动adverb/adjective | zì dòng | automatic | 5 |
| 自行车noun | zì xíng chē | bicycle | 3 |
| 自愿verb | zì yuàn | voluntary | 6 |
| 各自pronoun | gè zì | each | 5 |
| 自身noun | zì shēn | itself | 5 |
| 出自verb | chū zì | to come from | 5 |
| 大自然noun | dà zì rán | nature (the natural world) | 4 |
| 自言自语verb | zì yán zì yǔ | (idiom) to talk to oneself | 6 |
| 自助verb | zì zhù | self-service | 6 |
| 自觉verb/adjective | zì jué | to realize | 5 |
| 自来水noun | zì lái shuǐ | running water | 6 |
| 自学verb | zì xué | self-study | 4 |
| 自习verb | zì xí | to study outside of class time (reviewing one's lessons) | 4 |
| 自律verb | zì lǜ | self-discipline | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 自私adjective | zì sī | selfish |
| 自在adverb | zì zai | comfortable |
| 自首verb | zì shǒu | to give oneself up |
| 自卫verb | zì wèi | to defend oneself |
| 自尊noun | zì zūn | self-respect |
| 自称verb | zì chēng | to call oneself |
| 自责verb | zì zé | to blame oneself |
| 自以为是 | zì yǐ wéi shì | to believe oneself infallible (idiom) |
| 自找verb | zì zhǎo | to suffer as a consequence of one's own actions |
| 自负verb | zì fù | conceited |
| 自大adjective | zì dà | arrogant |
| 自制 | zì zhì | to maintain self-control |
自 appears in 138 compound words: 86 as the first character, 9 as the last, and 6 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 自 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (133)
unable to control one's grief (idiom); overwrought; overcome with sorrow; heartbroken
to close off the country to the outside world and conduct no trade or exchanges with other countries
to confess without being pressed; to make a willing confession; to give oneself away
each acts on their own according to their own preferences or desires without any overall coordination
Showing 12 of 133 idioms containing 自.
Example Sentences
老师教我们自字的发音和笔顺。
lǎo shī jiào wǒ men zì zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .
The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "自."
格陵兰岛自治政府总理称无意接收特朗普所称派往当地的...
gé líng lán dǎo zì zhì zhèng fǔ zǒng lǐ chèn wú yì jiē shōu tè lǎng pǔ suǒ chèn pài wǎng dāng dì de . . .
The prime minister of the Greenland autonomous government said he had no intention of receiving what Trump said was sent there...
(米兰冬奥会)谷爱凌、李方慧摘得自由式滑雪女子U池金、银牌
( mǐ lán dōng ào huì ) gǔ ài líng , lǐ fāng huì zhāi dé zì yóu shì huá xuě nǚ zǐ U chí jīn , yín pái
(Milan Winter Olympics) Gu Ailing and Li Fanghui won gold and silver medals in the women's U pool in freestyle skiing
自由式滑雪男子U型场地技巧预赛结束 4名中...
zì yóu shì huá xuě nán zǐ U xíng chǎng dì jì qiǎo yù sài jié shù 4 míng zhōng . . .
Freestyle skiing men's halfpipe skills preliminaries ended with 4 middle...
王心迪:在自己圆梦的同时,也帮助徐梦桃圆梦了
wáng xīn dí : zài zì jǐ yuán mèng de tóng shí , yě bāng zhù xú mèng táo yuán mèng le
Wang Xindi: While realizing his dream, he also helped Xu Mengtao realize his dream
大年初三车间灯就亮了,航天老厂通过自研AI平台,稳..
dà nián chū sān chē jiān dēng jiù liàng le , háng tiān lǎo hǎn tōng guò zì yán A I píng tái , wěn . .
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the workshop lights were turned on, and the old aerospace factory was steadily developed through the self-developed AI platform.
“我该做什么呢？”我自言自语道。
"Wǒ gāi zuò shénme ne?" wǒ zìyánzìyǔ dào.
"What shall I do?" I said to myself.
你能把你的自行车借给我吗？
Nǐ néng bǎ nǐ de zìxíngchē jiè gěi wǒ ma?
Can you lend me your bicycle?
这辆自行车是谁的？
Zhè liàng zìxíngchē shì shéi de?
Whose bike is this?
骑自行车不能载人，你不知道吗？
Qí zìxíngchē bù néng zàirén, nǐ bù zhīdào ma?
You can't carry people on your bike, didn't you know?
Character Family
自 Radical Family — Characters sharing the self radical
Related Characters
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 自 (zì) mean in Chinese?
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What is the radical of 自?
What are the components of 自?
What are common words containing 自?
What characters sound the same as 自 (zì)?
Is 自 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 自 with real-time feedback
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