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仔

zǎi / zǐ
noun #3,238

Meanings

  1. 1 young animal; cub
  2. 2 boy; lad (Cantonese-origin)
  3. 3 junior; subordinate (in compounds)

Examples

猪仔很小。
Zhūzǎi hěnxiǎo.
The piglet is very small.
他穿了一条牛仔裤。
Tā chuān le yī tiáo niúzǎikù.
He's wearing a pair of jeans.
那个靓仔是谁？
Nàge liàngzǎi shì shéi?
Who's that good-looking guy?

Tips

culture
The zǎi reading entered Mandarin through Cantonese — it labels young creatures and, by extension, young men. Cantonese popular culture carried it into Mandarin: 牛仔 (cowboy / jeans), 靓仔 (handsome young man), 马仔 (henchman). Cantonese cuisine names: 煲仔饭 (clay pot rice), 鸡蛋仔 (egg waffle).
mistakes
Two readings. The zǎi reading (this entry) covers the 'young animal / lad' compounds. The 仔 reading (see the zǐ entry) survives in standard Mandarin only in 仔细 (careful) and the classical 仔肩. A third toneless reading appears in the Taiwanese loan 蚵仔煎 oyster omelette.

Components

radical
亻 rén
person (radical form of 人)
Left-side person radical — the indexing radical, side-form of 人. Files 仔 in the human-related family (offspring, young animals, careful manner). Pairs with right-side 子 to make a doubled 'human + child' compound: a young one, a kid, a small thing carefully attended to.
phonetic
子 zǐ
child; small thing
Right-side 子 supplies the sound, with zǐ shifting to zǎi for the Cantonese-influenced 'kid / young animal' reading; the more standard zǐ reading is preserved in 仔细 (careful). 子 also doubles as semantic: a child added to a person = a young one. Phonetic family: 字 (character).

Stroke Order

仔 zǎi