zhì
noun #9,438

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 mole (on the skin)
  2. 2 birthmark
  3. 3 beauty mark

Examples

HSK 5
Tā liǎn shang yǒu yī kē xiǎo zhì.
She has a small mole on her face.
HSK 6
Yīshēng jiànyì bǎ zhè kē zhì qùdiào.
The doctor recommended removing this mole.
HSK 7-9
Zhè kē zhì shì tiānshēng de.
This mole is natural, from birth.

Tips

memory
(illness radical) + (mark) gives both the meaning, a skin mark, and the sound.
culture
In Chinese face-reading, moles in different positions carry different fortunes. A mole near the mouth is considered auspicious - a 食禄痣 or 'food-fortune mole'.

Components

radical
sickness; ailment
Sickness radical wrapping the top-left, drawn as a person lying on a tilted bed. It marks as belonging to the medical/skin family - the same wrapper appears in , , . Here it frames a minor skin condition rather than a serious illness.
phonetic
zhì
mark; record; will
Right-bottom gives the sound exactly - same syllable, same tone. It also lends meaning: carries the sense 'to mark, to record', and a is a mark the body records on the skin from birth.

Stroke Order

zhì