只 (zhī)
only/merely/just
How 只 is written
- Strokes
- 5
- Radical
- 口 — mouth
- Traditional
- 只
- Simplified
- 只 (unchanged)
Components
- 口 mouth
- 八 eight/divide
只 has 2 readings
The pronunciation changes with the meaning, so the reading has to be learned per word.
- zhǐ
- only; merely; just; but
- zhī
- classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc
Common words using 只
- 只是 zhǐshì
- merely; simply; only
- 只有 zhǐyǒu
- only
- 只要 zhǐyào
- if only; so long as
- 不只 bùzhǐ
- not only; not merely
- 只不過 zhǐbuguò
- only; merely; nothing but
- 只好 zhǐhǎo
- without any better option; to have to; to be forced to
- 只得 zhǐdé
- to have no alternative but to; to be obliged to
- 只怕 zhǐpà
- I'm afraid that...; perhaps; maybe
- 只管 zhǐguǎn
- solely engrossed in one thing; just (one thing, no need to worry about the rest); simply
- 只言片語 zhǐyánpiànyǔ
- just a word or two (idiom); a few isolated phrases
- 只讀 zhǐdú
- read-only (computing)
- 只顧 zhǐgù
- solely preoccupied (with one thing); engrossed; focusing (on sth)
只 in a sentence
我只想喝水，不想吃東西。
Wǒ zhǐ xiǎng hē shuǐ, bù xiǎng chī dōngxi.
“I only want to drink water; I don't want to eat anything.”
How common is 只?
只 is the 97th most frequent character in written Chinese. Characters up to this rank account for about 41.2% of all running text.
Characters that appear with 只
Master 只 and 5,000 others.
Flashcards and Writing Practice. Every single character in A Course in Contemporary Chinese 當代中文課程.
只
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