measure word for animals (a cat, a bird) and one of a pair (a shoe)
classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc
Also read zhǐ: “only”
Read zhǐ, 只 means only, and it goes before the verb: 我只有一个 (wǒ zhǐ yǒu yí ge) “I only have one”. Read zhī, it is the measure word for animals: 一只猫 (yì zhī māo) “a cat”.
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.
只zhīgrain that has begun to ripen
口mouth · kǒu
八eight · bā
Memory aidA mouth 口 above two strokes 八. It is the simplified form of both 隻 (one bird) and 衹 (only).
How to write 只
只 5 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 只 (zhī). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
只 (zhī) means “measure word for animals (a cat, a bird) and one of a pair (a shoe)” or “classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it zhī: zhī with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 只 is written 隻. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 只 from the suggestions. Typing zhi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
Yes. Read zhǐ, 只 means “only”. That reading has its own page. Read zhī, it means “measure word for animals (a cat, a bird) and one of a pair (a shoe)”.
只 is an HSK 3 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
只zhī1st tone, high and level
