族 (zú): race, nationality, ethnicity

族 (zú) is a Chinese character meaning “race.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 方 (structural) and 矢 (structural). It ranks #549 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 族 a group of people that swear by 矢 a single flag 方. Its radical form 方 (square) appears in many related characters such as 方 (fāng, square), 旁 (páng, one side), 旅 (lǚ, trip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. race
  2. nationality
  3. ethnicity

Etymology & Origin

族

ideographicA group of people that swear by 矢 a single flag 方

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 族

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
民族nounmín zúnationality4
中华民族proper-nounzhōng huá mín zúthe Chinese nation5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
家族nounjiā zúfamily
种族nounzhǒng zúrace
贵族nounguì zúlord
族人nounzú rénclansman
种族主义zhǒng zú zhǔ yìracism
部族nounbù zútribe
种族歧视nounzhǒng zú qí shìracial discrimination
水族馆nounshuǐ zú guǎnaquarium (open to the public)
族长nounzú zhǎngclan elder
族群nounzú qúnethnic group
胡图族hú tú zúHutu, an ethnic group in Rwanda and Burundi
皇族nounhuáng zúthe imperial family
少数民族nounshǎo shù mín zúethnic minority
塞族nounsài zúSerb ethnic group (abbr. for 塞爾維亞族|塞尔维亚族)
氏族nounshì zúclan
103
Total compounds
9
As first character
85
As last character
6
As middle character

族 appears in 103 compound words: 9 as the first character, 85 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 族 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

民mín
0.596206,804 co-occurrences
贵guì
0.57727,260 co-occurrences
家jiā
0.568203,008 co-occurrences
壮zhuàng
0.5378,764 co-occurrences
群qún
0.50638,671 co-occurrences
汉hàn
0.49123,456 co-occurrences
铸zhù
0.47613 co-occurrences
苗miáo
0.4719,110 co-occurrences
氏shì
0.46326,090 co-occurrences
裔yì
0.4609,850 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (14)

达斡尔族dá wò ěr zú

Daur ethnic group

phrase
单身贵族dānshēn guìzúHSK 4+

well-off single; bachelor

noun
民族英雄mínzú yīngxióngHSK 6+

national hero; folk hero; people's hero

noun
民族自决mín zú zì juéHSK 4+

self-determination

phrase
少数民族shǎoshù mínzúHSK 4+

ethnic minority

noun
太鲁阁族tàilǔgézúHSK 7+

Taroko people, an ethnic group in Taiwan

noun
维吾尔族wéi wú ěr zú

Uyghur ethnic group

phrase
种族隔离zhǒngzú gélíHSK 5+

racial segregation; apartheid

noun
种族歧视zhǒngzú qíshìHSK 7+

racial discrimination; racism

noun
种族主义zhǒng zú zhǔ yìHSK 5+

racism

phrase
鄂伦春族è lún chūn zúHSK 7+

Oroqen ethnic group

phrase

Showing 11 of 14 idioms containing 族.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了族字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le zú zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "族" in the dictionary.

LtnFeb 2026

科技与循环族群领涨 投信:美股获利动能续强

kē jì yǔ xún huán zú qún lǐng zhǎng tóu xìn : měi gǔ huò lì dòng néng xù qiáng

Technology and circulation groups led the rise Investment Trust: The profit momentum of US stocks continues to be strong

中時新聞網Feb 2026

喝苦茶油养胃 医曝最佳饮用法 3族群有禁忌

hē kǔ chá yóu yǎng wèi yī pù zuì jiā yǐn yòng fǎ 3 zú qún yǒu jīn jì

Drinking bitter tea oil to nourish the stomach and the best way to drink it is 3 groups have taboos

StheadlineFeb 2026

伊朗局势|伊媒:一旦开战特朗普家族在中东项目将成攻击目标

yī lǎng jú shì yī méi : yī dàn kāi zhàn tè lǎng pǔ jiā zú zài zhōng dōng xiàng mù jiāng chéng gōng jī mù biāo

Iranian media: Once the war starts, the Trump family's project in the Middle East will be the target

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...红盘奔向3万4?两大变数酿短压 关注五大族群走势

. . . hóng pán bēn xiàng 3 wàn 4 ? liǎng dà biàn shǔ niàng duǎn yā guān zhù wǔ dà zú qún zǒu shì

... The red plate rushes to 30,000 4? Two major variables cause short-term pressure and pay attention to the trend of the five major groups

BastillepostFeb 2026

脂肪肝不是胖人专利 三类高危族群与改善关键

zhī fáng gān bù shì pàng rén zhuān lì sān lèi gāo wēi zú qún yǔ gǎi shàn guān jiàn

Fatty liver is not the patent of fat people, three types of high-risk groups and the key to improvement

Tatoeba

什么样的人会将种族灭绝者,称之为“英雄”?

Shénmeyàng de rén huì jiāng zhǒngzúmièjué zhě, chēngzhīwéi "yīngxióng "?

What kind of person looks up to a genocidal killer and calls him a hero?

Tatoeba

请不要做任何有损松野家族名声的事!

Qǐng bù yào zuò rènhé yǒu sǔn sōngyě jiāzú míngshēng de shì!

Please don't do anything that would besmirch the Matsuno family name!

Tatoeba

日本人是勤劳的民族。

Rìběnrén shì qínláo de mínzú.

The Japanese are an industrious people.

Tatoeba

希腊人以前是信奉多神的民族。

Xīlàrén yǐqián shì xìnfèng duō shén de mínzú.

The Greeks used to worship several gods.

Character Family

方 Radical Family — Characters sharing the square radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced zú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 族 (zú) mean in Chinese?
族 (zú) primarily means "race." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #549 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 族 have?
族 is written with 11 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 族?
The radical associated with 族 is 方 (square). This radical appears in many characters related to square.
What are the components of 族?
族 is composed of: 方 (structural), 矢 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 族?
Common words with 族 include: 家族 (jiā zú, "family"); 种族 (zhǒng zú, "race"); 贵族 (guì zú, "lord"); 民族 (mín zú, "nationality"); 族人 (zú rén, "clansman"). There are over 103 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 族 (zú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zú: 组 (group, to organize), 足 (foot), 阻 (to hinder), 祖 (ancestor), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 族 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 族 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 族 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.