它 (tā): it

Meanings

1 it

Characters

它

tā

it

Contains 宀 (roof) — originally depicted a snake under a roof.

Examples

这是我的猫，它叫小白。

Zhè shì wǒ de māo, tā jiào Xiǎobái.

This is my cat, it's called Xiaobai.

这本书很好，你应该看看它。

Zhè běn shū hěn hǎo, nǐ yīnggāi kànkan tā.

This book is great, you should read it.

它在哪里？

Tā zài nǎlǐ?

Where is it?

Tips

grammar

Chinese has three third-person pronouns, all pronounced tā: 他 (he), 她 (she), 它 (it). They sound identical but are written differently.

usage

它 is used for animals and objects. For people, use 他 (male) or 她 (female).

Components

radical

宀 mián

roof; house

Roof radical on top — the indexing radical. 它 was originally a pictograph of a snake (now written 蛇), and the 宀 'roof' represented the home. Together: 'house-snake', a household pest one had to watch out for.

semantic

匕 bǐ

spoon (here: snake body)

Bottom 匕 — here a stylised snake body, originally a curling form depicting the serpent's coiled posture. The whole picture: a snake under the eaves. The pictographic origin survives only in etymology; modern usage is purely the inanimate pronoun 'it', borrowed via sound.