Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced zhi
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced zhi, including 之 zhī, 只 zhǐ, 知 zhī, 制 zhì, 直 zhí. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
zhi is a whole syllable, read in one piece — there is no separate vowel to add. Curl the tongue tip up and back, hold it there, and let the buzzing behind it be the sound; it is nothing like the English word “she” or the “ee” in see.
Initial zh
Put the tongue slightly curled back. Do not pronounce it like English “j”.
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 (之 zhī, 只 zhǐ, 知 zhī, 制 zhì, 直 zhí) and lock in their tones. 31 common characters share the sound zhi, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
zhi turns up here with 4 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: 之, 知, 支… (8 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 直, 识, 值… (7 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 只, 指, 止… (6 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 制, 至, 治… (10 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing zhi inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
31 common characters in this group.