子
·zi
son; child; seed; egg; small thing; 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the rat; viscount, fourth of five orders of nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4]; ancient Chinese compass point: 0° (north); subsidiary; subordinate; (prefix) sub-
3 strokes
Dict coverage rank #2 U+5B50
How 子 is formed
Pictograph (象形字)
A child in a wrap, with outstretched arms but bundled legs
How to remember it
child · Heisig RSH #97
— as a component also called: child
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Characters built with 子 as their sound component
These characters all use 子 (zǐ) as their phonetic component — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 子 sound component | zǐ | son, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thing |
| 李 | lǐ | plum; luggage; surname |
| 孜 | zī | diligent, hard-working |
| 耔 | zǐ | to hoe the soil around one's plants |
Words containing 子
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 人子 | rén zǐ | son of man |
| 山子 | shān zi | rock garden; rockery |
| 头子 | tóu zi | boss; gang leader |
| 中子 | zhōng zǐ | neutron |
| 学子 | xué zǐ | (literary) student; scholar |
| 生子 | shēng zǐ | to give birth to a child or children |
| 儿子 | ér zi | son |
| 子儿 | zǐ r | (coll.) penny; buck |
| 天子 | tiān zǐ | the (rightful) emperor; "Son of Heaven" (traditional English translation) |
| 一家子 | yī jiā zi | the whole family |
| 马子 | mǎ zi | bandit; brigand; gambling chip; chamber pot; (slang) girl; chick; babe |
| 小子 | xiǎo zǐ | (literary) youngster; (old) young fellow (term of address used by the older generation); (… |
| 小子 | xiǎo zi | (coll.) boy; (derog.) joker; guy; (despicable) fellow |
| 性子 | xìng zi | temper |
| 家子 | jiā zi | household; family |
| 海子 | hǎi zi | (dialect) wetlands; lake |
| 白子 | bái zǐ | white Go chess piece; bee pupa; albino |
| 机子 | jī zi | machine; device |
| 大分子 | dà fēn zǐ | macromolecule (chemistry) |
| 电子人 | diàn zǐ rén | cyborg |