帜 (zhì) is a Chinese character meaning “flag”. It is written from 巾 (cloth) and 只 (only; measure word for animals), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “flag; banner”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
巾 + 只
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern-form decomposition (IDS ⿰巾只), cross-checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke counts: 巾 3 + 只 5 = 8
Memory aid
Cloth (巾) on the left, 只 on the right giving the sound zhì. A piece of cloth raised to be seen by everyone — a banner.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 旗帜qí zhìflag; banner帜 = zhì
- 独树一帜dú shù yī zhìto fly one's own banner; to have a distinctive style of one's own帜 = zhìspoken asdú shù yí zhì
Go deeper
All readings
banner
flag; banner
旗子；也指作为标志的旗。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 旗帜qí zhìflag; banner帜 = zhì
- 独树一帜dú shù yī zhìto fly one's own banner; to have a distinctive style of one's own帜 = zhìspoken asdú shù yí zhì
Sound component
只 family tone diff
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 帜 mean?
帜 (zhì) means flag; banner.
How do you pronounce 帜?
It is pronounced zhì.
What parts is 帜 made of?
巾 (cloth) and 只 (only; measure word for animals), side by side. The recorded source is: modern-form decomposition (IDS ⿰巾只), cross-checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke counts: 巾 3 + 只 5 = 8. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 帜 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 帜?
巾. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 帜?
Common ones are 旗帜 and 独树一帜. The reading of 帜 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.