Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to stop; toe

Chinese: 停止、阻止。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “zhi” becomes a different word in each tone. 止 is the 3rd 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

  • 停止tíng zhǐto stop; to halt; to cease
  • 防止fáng zhǐto prevent; to guard against; to take precautions
  • 阻止zǔ zhǐto prevent; to block
  • 禁止jìn zhǐto prohibit; to forbid; to ban
  • 为止wéi zhǐuntil

Example Sentence

雨终于停止了。Yǔ zhōng yú tíng zhǐ le.The rain finally stopped.

rain终于zhōng yúat last停止tíng zhǐto stople(completed action)

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

A pictograph of a foot, showing toes and sole. Its first meaning was ‘foot’; it later came to mean ‘to stop’. It hides inside 步, 正, 走 and 足.

A way to remember it

A planted foot that has come to a halt — stop.

Easy to confuse with

  • zhèng‘Upright / correct’: a line (一) added on top of 止 — a foot stopped right on the mark.