字 (zì) is a Chinese character meaning “a written character”. It is written from 宀 (roof; house) and 子 (child; son), one above the other, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “written character”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
宀 + 子
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: 说文解字：字，乳也。从子在宀下，子亦声
Memory aid
A child (子) under a roof (宀). 子 is doing double duty: it is part of the picture, and it is also where the sound comes from — zǐ → zì.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 汉字hàn zìChinese character字 = zìHSK 1
- 名字míng ziname字 = zìHSK 1
- 写字xiě zìto write characters字 = zìHSK 1
- 字帖zì tiècalligraphy copybook字 = zì
- 字典zì diǎncharacter dictionary字 = zì
- 赤字chì zìa deficit; being in the red字 = zì
- 金字塔jīn zì tǎpyramid字 = zì
Go deeper
All readings
written character
a written character; a word in writing; handwriting
文字；记录语言的书写符号。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 汉字hàn zìChinese character字 = zìHSK 1
- 名字míng ziname字 = zìHSK 1
- 写字xiě zìto write characters字 = zìHSK 1
- 字帖zì tiècalligraphy copybook字 = zì
- 字典zì diǎncharacter dictionary字 = zì
- 赤字chì zìa deficit; being in the red字 = zì
- 金字塔jīn zì tǎpyramid字 = zì
Sound component
子 family tone diff
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 字 mean?
字 (zì) means a written character; a word in writing; handwriting.
How do you pronounce 字?
It is pronounced zì.
What parts is 字 made of?
宀 (roof; house) and 子 (child; son), one above the other. This breakdown was checked by a human (source: 说文解字：字，乳也。从子在宀下，子亦声). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 字 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 字?
子. 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 字?
Common ones are 汉字 and 名字. The reading of 字 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.