癸 (guǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “the tenth of the ten Heavenly Stems”. It is written from 癶 (outstretched feet; setting out (radical 105)) and 天 (sky; heaven; day), one above the other, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “tenth Heavenly Stem”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
癶 + 天
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+7678, Unicode radical 105 (癶), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–4 form 癶; strokes 5–8 form 天)
Memory aid
Two feet setting out (癶) walk on until they reach the sky (天) — the end of the road, just as 癸 is the tenth and last Heavenly Stem.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 癸卯guǐ mǎoGui-Mao, the 40th year of the sexagenary cycle (e.g. 2023)癸 = guǐspoken asguí mǎo
- 癸酉guǐ yǒuGui-You, the 10th year of the sexagenary cycle (e.g. 1993)癸 = guǐspoken asguí yǒu
Go deeper
All readings
tenth Heavenly Stem
the tenth of the ten Heavenly Stems; tenth in order
天干的第十位，也用来表示顺序的第十。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 癸卯guǐ mǎoGui-Mao, the 40th year of the sexagenary cycle (e.g. 2023)癸 = guǐspoken asguí mǎo
- 癸酉guǐ yǒuGui-You, the 10th year of the sexagenary cycle (e.g. 1993)癸 = guǐspoken asguí yǒu
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 癸 mean?
癸 (guǐ) means the tenth of the ten Heavenly Stems; tenth in order.
How do you pronounce 癸?
It is pronounced guǐ.
What parts is 癸 made of?
癶 (outstretched feet; setting out (radical 105)) and 天 (sky; heaven; day), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+7678, Unicode radical 105 (癶), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–4 form 癶; strokes 5–8 form 天). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 癸 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 癸?
癶. 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 癸?
Common ones are 癸卯 and 癸酉. The reading of 癸 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.