Pinyin	zì
Meaning	character (writing); letter (alphabet); word (non-Chinese); symbol
Radical	子	繁體字	same

子

writing patterns, not components

category: compound ideograph

structure: up down

6stroke count

HSK 1

Breakdown

字 (zì) originally meant “to raise a child,” consisting of 宀 on top and 子 (zǐ) “child” at the bottom. 宀 is only used as a component, and it means “roof,” which represents a shelter for the child. 子 (zǐ) is the radical of this character, and it is both semantic and phonetic here.

From “to raise a child” to “character”

When the Chinese writing system was just invented, most characters were pictographs. These pictographs later became the building blocks of all the more complex characters. Since these characters are like “children” of the pictographs, they started to be called 字 (zì). Today, 字 (zì) is used to refer to all characters, as well as words from other languages, and no longer mean “to raise a child.”

Used as a morpheme/word

How to pronounce

First, have the middle of your tongue bowed and raised towards the roof, then say d-si, as in “kid sit.”