Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced chi
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced chi, including 持 chí, 吃 chī / jí, 迟 chí, 尺 chǐ, 赤 chì. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
chi is a whole syllable. Make the same curled-back tongue position as zhi, but release a clear puff of air; the vowel is just the buzz that follows, not an “ee” sound.
Initial ch
Like zh, but with a clear puff of air.
Final i
After zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s, this i is not the clear “ee” in see.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (持 chí, 吃 chī / jí, 迟 chí, 尺 chǐ, 赤 chì) and lock in their tones. 13 common characters share the sound chi, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
chi turns up here with 5 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 吃, 痴 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 持, 迟, 池… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 尺, 齿, 耻 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 赤, 斥, 翅 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
5
Taking the 5 here: 匙 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing chi inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
13 common characters in this group.