寂 (jì) · silent, solitary, lonely

Meanings

1 silent
2 solitary
3 lonely
4 still

Characters

寂

jì

silent / still / lonely

Examples

HSK 6

深夜一片寂静。

Shēnyè yípiàn jìjìng.

Deep in the night, there is complete silence.

HSK 6

他独自坐在寂寞的房间里。

Tā dúzì zuò zài jìmò de fángjiān lǐ.

He sat alone in the lonely room.

Tips

register

寂 is rarely used alone in modern Chinese. It functions in classical or literary texts and appears in common compounds: 寂静 (silence), 寂寞 (loneliness), 孤寂 (solitary). Note the variant Taiwan pronunciation [jí].

Components

radical

宀 mián

roof; house cover

Top roof radical signals an indoor scene. The indexing radical, putting 寂 in the home family with 家 home, 宁 peaceful, 寒 cold. Here it gives the image of an empty room - silence under one's own roof - from which came the meaning "still, silent, lonely."

phonetic

叔 shū

uncle; pick up

Bottom 叔 supplies the sound - shū drifting to jì through long phonetic erosion (well-attested in the same sound family). 叔 contributes no transparent meaning; in 寂 the loneliness sense comes entirely from "an empty interior under the roof." Common collocations: 寂静 silent, 孤寂 lonely, 寂寞 lonesome.