Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to gather; to collect; collected works

Chinese: 集合、收集或集子。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “ji” becomes a different word in each tone. 集 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 集中jí zhōngto concentrate; to centralize; to focus; centralized
  • 集体jí tǐcollective (decision); joint (effort); a group; a team
  • 集合jí héto gather; to assemble; (math.) set
  • 集团jí tuángroup; bloc; corporation; conglomerate
  • 收集shōu jíto gather; to collect

Example Sentence

同学们集合在操场上。Tóng xué men jí hé zài cāo chǎng shàng.The students gathered on the playground.

同学Tóng xuéto study at the same schoomen(plural marker)集合jí héto gatherzàiat操场cāo chǎngplaygroundshàngon

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

隹 (a short-tailed bird) over 木 (tree): birds flocking onto a tree — ‘to gather, collect, assemble; a collection, anthology; a country market/fair; a volume, episode (第一集)’ (集合, 收集, 市集).

A way to remember it

Birds (隹) flocking to a tree (木) — to gather; a collection.