HSK 5 · Adjectives

直 zhí “straight” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 直 means

  1. straight
  2. directly
  3. frank
  4. to straighten
  5. fair and reasonable
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • straightforward
  • (indicates continuing motion or action)

How to say 直

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale直zhí2nd tone, rising

直 in a sentence

  1. 这条路很直。

    Zhè tiáo lù hěn zhí.

    This road is very straight.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 你有什么想法就直说吧。

    Nǐ yǒu shénme xiǎngfǎ jiù zhí shuō ba.

    If you have any thoughts, just say them straight out.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 直 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 直 (zhí) with each of its parts in a different colour
直zhístraight
  • 十ten · shí
  • 目eye · mù
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidPicture an eye 目 looking straight down a line: straight.

How to write 直

直 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

直 (zhí) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 直 (zhí). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 直

Words with 直

一直yìzhí · always直到zhídào · until直接zhíjiē · direct (opposite: indirect 间接)简直jiǎnzhí · simply垂直chuízhí · vertical直径zhíjìng · diameter直播zhíbō · live broadcast理直气壮lǐzhíqìzhuàng · bold and confident (being in the right)

More words: Adjectives

糟糕zāogāo · too bad窄zhǎi · narrow整齐zhěngqí · orderly真实zhēnshí · true重大zhòngdà · major周到zhōudào · thoughtful主观zhǔguān · subjective紫zǐ · purple

FAQs

直 (zhí) means “straight” or “directly”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it zhí: zhí with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 直 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 直 from the suggestions. Typing zhi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
直 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.