只 zhī one; single
Made up of [口 kǒu mouth radical 30]This measure word can be used with these nouns: 手 shǒu (hand) 鸟 niǎo (bird) 猫 māo (cat)
Made with 5 strokes.
Originally a picture of a bird on a hand, now much simplified to be a breathing mouth. Measure word when referring one of a pair: one hand, one shoe etc. and also some animals
Related characters
Also uses 口 kǒu component: 吧 bā (supposition or suggestion) 唱 chàng (to sing) ; 超 chāo (to exceed) ; 吃 chī (to eat) ; 船 chuán (boat) ; 啡 fēi (coffee) ; 富 fù (rich) ; 福 fú (good fortune) ; 告 gào (to tell) ; 各 gè (each) ; 宫 gōng (palace) ; 狗 gǒu (dog) ; 古 gǔ (ancient) ; 咳 hāi (sound of sighing) ; 号 hào (name) ; 和 hé (together) ; 合 hé (to close) ; 喝 hē (drink) ; 亨 hēng (prosperous) ; 后 hòu (behind) ; 回 huí (to circle) ; 或 huò (maybe) ; 吉 jí (lucky) ; 叫 jiào (called) ; 京 jīng (capital) ; 咎 jiù (fault) ; 句 jù (sentence) ; 局 jú (office) ; 君 jūn (monarch) ; 咖 kā (coffee) ; 可 kě (can) ; 另 lìng (other) ; 吗 mǎ (?) ; 命 mìng (life) ; 名 míng (name) ; 鸣 míng (to call (birds)) ; 呢 ne (and you?) ; 啤 pí (hops) ; 品 pǐn (article) ; 如 rú (as) ; 尚 shàng (still) ; 事 shì (matter) ; 史 shǐ (history) ; 虽 suī (although) ; 台 tái (typhoon) ; 唐 táng (Tang) ; 听 tīng (to listen) ; 同 tóng (same) ; 问 wèn (ask) ; 喜 xǐ (to be fond of) ; 兄 xiōng (elder brother) ; 咬 yǎo (to bite) ; 右 yòu (right) ; 语 yǔ (language) ; 员 yuán (person) ; 曰 yuē (to speak) ; 占 zhān (to observe) ; 知 zhī (to know) ; 周 zhōu (circuit) ; 足 zú (foot)
Sounds same
之 zhī (him) ; 知 zhī (to know) ; 支 zhī (to support) ; 枝 zhī (branch)Different tone
直 zhí (straight) ; 值 zhí (value) ; 植 zhí (to plant) ; 纸 zhǐ (paper) ; 止 zhǐ (to stop) ; 夂 zhǐ (walk slowly) ; 志 zhì (aspiration) ; 至 zhì (to arrive) ; 治 zhì (to rule) ; 致 zhì (to send) ; 置 zhì (to install)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Stroke order for character 只, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚
Proverbs
不怕路长只怕志短 bù pà lù cháng zhǐ pà zhì duǎn Do not be afraid of a long road to success only be afraid of a shortage of ambition授人以鱼只解一时之急,授人以渔 则解一生之需 shòu rén yǐ yú zhǐ jiù yī shí zhī jí, shòu rén yǐ yú zé jiě yī shēng zhī xū It is important to learn a skill that will last for life
一只蜂酿不成蜜一颗米熬不成粥 yī zhī fēng niáng bù chéng mì yī kē mǐ áo bù chéng zhōu It needs joint effort to achieve anything worthwhile
万事俱备,只欠东风 wàn shì jù bèi, zhǐ qiàn dōng fēng Lacking one small, but crucial item. It refers to the battle of Red Cliff in the Three Kingdoms period when Cao Cao's great army threatened to overcome his adversaries on the Yangzi River. The clever strategy advocated by Zhuge Liang was to send fire boats into Cao Cao's navy to destroy the boats. Everything was prepared but for ages the wind was in the wrong direction. At last it changed to the east, the fire boats were launched and Cao Cao was defeated.