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雉

zhì
noun #45,315

Meanings

  1. 1 pheasant; ring-necked pheasant
  2. 2 an ancient unit for measuring city-wall area (a section thirty chi long and ten chi high)

Examples

一只雄雉从草丛里惊飞而起。
Yì zhī xióng zhì cóng cǎocóng lǐ jīng fēi ér qǐ.
A male pheasant flew up from the grass with a startled cry.
古书用雉的数目来计算城墙。
Gǔ shū yòng zhì de shùmù lái jìsuàn chéngqiáng.
Old chronicles measured a city wall by the number of zhi.

Tips

culture
The pheasant 雉 was a classic emblem of a steadfast, principled scholar in the 《礼记》 (it 'keeps its integrity'). Modern Chinese usually says 野鸡 for the bird; 雉 is the literary word.

Components

radical
隹 zhuī
short-tailed bird
Right side is 隹, the short-tailed-bird radical, marking this clearly as a bird name — the pheasant.
phonetic
矢 shǐ
arrow
Left side 矢 ('arrow') is the sound element; the reading has drifted away from 矢 to 雉, but it may also nod to the pheasant's swift, arrow-like flight.

Stroke Order

雉 zhì