祗 (zhī) · respectfully; reverently

Meanings

1 respectfully; reverently
2 (archaic) only; merely (variant of 只)

Characters

祗

zhī

respectfully; reverently

Examples

HSK 6

祗候光临。

Zhī hòu guānglín.

Respectfully awaiting your arrival.

HSK 7-9

他祗读古文。

Tā zhī dú gǔwén.

He reads only classical texts.

Tips

usage

祗 is a literary/archaic word meaning 'respectfully' (祗候 'respectfully await', 祗奉 'reverently obey'). It's also historically a variant of 只 'only', which can confuse learners - but in modern Chinese, write 只 for 'only' and reserve 祗 for the formal 'respectfully' sense found in old letters and edicts.

memory

Radical 礻 (the 'spirit/altar' radical, derived from 示) signals worship and reverence - 祗, 祝 'pray', 神 'god', 福 'blessing'. The 礻 cue is your reminder that this is the 'reverent' zhī, not the 只 'only'.

Components

radical

礻 shì

altar; ritual (left form)

礻 is the left-side form of 示 (altar/spirit) and marks 祗 as a ritual-respect word - reverence shown before the spirits. Same radical in 神, 祝, 福, 礼 - all worship-and-blessing vocabulary.

phonetic

氐 dī

base; root (phonetic stem)

氐 supplies the sound, drifting from dī to zhī. The same phonetic shows up in 低 (low), 底 (bottom), 抵 (resist), but the d-/zh- swap in 祗 is unusual - likely a frozen archaic reading.