磁 (cí): magnetism; magnetic

Meanings

1 magnetism; magnetic
2 porcelain; china (variant of 瓷)

Characters

Contains 石 (stone radical) + 兹 (this) as phonetic. The stone radical connects to lodestone — the naturally magnetic mineral.

Examples

磁铁能吸引铁。

Cítiě néng xīyǐn tiě.

Magnets can attract iron.

地球有一个磁场。

Dìqiú yǒu yīgè cíchǎng.

The Earth has a magnetic field.

这种磁性材料应用很广。

Zhèzhǒng cíxìng cáiliào yìngyòng hěn guǎng.

This type of magnetic material has very wide applications.

Tips

usage

磁 appears in many compounds: 磁铁 (cítiě, magnet), 磁场 (cíchǎng, magnetic field), 磁卡 (cíkǎ, magnetic card), 磁盘 (cípán, disk). As a variant of 瓷, it can mean porcelain, but this usage is rare in modern Chinese.

Components

radical

石 shí

stone

Stone radical on the left, the indexing radical. Magnetism was first observed in lodestone — a naturally magnetic mineral — so the stone radical is literal. Same family: 砌 stack, 碎 broken, 砖 brick. The porcelain sense (磁器 = 瓷器) also relates to fired stone-clay.

phonetic

兹 zī

this; herewith (here phonetic)

Right side 兹 supplies the sound — zī shifted to cí in 磁's reading. The 'this' meaning is dormant; treat 兹 as the phonetic. Same root in 滋 to grow, 孳 to breed — all use 兹 for the sound rather than any 'this' meaning.