眦 (zì): corner of the eye; canthus

Meanings

1 corner of the eye; canthus
2 the eye socket (literary)

Characters

眦

zì

corner of the eye

Examples

他怒目而视，眼眦尽裂。

Tā nùmù'érshì, yǎn zì jìnliè.

He glared in fury, eyes wide enough to split at the corners.

睚眦必报形容心胸极狭窄。

Yázì bìbào xíngróng xīnxiōng jí xiázhǎi.

To repay even the smallest grievance is what 'taking revenge for a glare' means.

Tips

culture

Famous in the idiom 睚眦必报 — literally 'an angry stare must be avenged,' meaning someone so petty they pay back even the slightest slight. 睚眦 here means a hostile glare.

Components

radical

目 mù

eye

Eye radical on the left, 目, a pictograph of an eye turned upright. It fixes the meaning on a part of the eye. Same family as 眼 eye, 睛 eyeball, 眨 to blink.

phonetic

此 cǐ

this

Right side 此 is the phonetic (cǐ → zì). Same sound element appears in 紫 purple and 雌 female; it lends only its reading here.