掷 (zhì): to throw

Meanings

1 to throw
2 to toss
3 to cast

Characters

掷

zhì

to throw; to cast

Examples

他掷出了骰子。

Tā zhì chū le tóuzi.

He threw the dice.

运动员奋力掷出铁饼。

Yùndòngyuán fènlì zhì chū tiě bǐng.

The athlete threw the discus with all his might.

孤注一掷是很危险的。

Gūzhùyīzhì shì hěn wēixiǎn de.

Putting all your eggs in one basket is very dangerous.

Tips

usage

掷 is more literary than 扔 (rēng) or 丢 (diū). It appears in formal/written Chinese and set phrases like 掷骰子 (throw dice), 投掷 (to throw, in sports), 孤注一掷 (stake everything on one throw).

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand

扌 is the left-side simplified hand radical. It marks 掷 as an arm-action verb — here, hurling, throwing forcefully. Family includes 投 (toss), 抛 (cast), 扔 (throw), 抓 (grab); the hand on the left always signals: this is something you do with the upper limb.

phonetic

郑 zhèng

Zheng (state/surname)

郑 (zhèng) on the right supplies the sound — initial preserved, rime preserved, tone shifted (zhì in 掷 reflects an older reading). Originally 擲 used 鄭 as phonetic; the simplified 掷 keeps the same relationship. The character was simplified along with its phonetic, so no etymological link is lost.