止 (zhǐ): to stop; to cease

Meanings

1 to stop; to cease
2 to prohibit; to prevent

Characters

止

zhǐ

to stop; to halt

Examples

请停止说话。

Qǐng tíngzhǐ shuōhuà.

Please stop talking.

这里禁止吸烟。

Zhèlǐ jìnzhǐ xīyān.

Smoking is prohibited here.

Tips

usage

止 is found in 停止 (tíngzhǐ, to stop), 禁止 (jìnzhǐ, to prohibit), 防止 (fángzhǐ, to prevent), 不止 (bùzhǐ, more than), and 止痛 (zhǐtòng, painkiller).

Components

pictograph

止 zhǐ

to stop; foot

Pictograph of a human foot with toes — the original meaning was simply 'foot' (the planted, unmoving foot). From a foot stationary on the ground came the abstract sense 'to stop, halt, prevent.' 止 is its own Kangxi radical (#77) and shows up as a meaning-component inside 步, 走, 武, 正 — all motion-related characters. One of the oldest oracle-bone graphs in continuous use.

Radical

Foot Kangxi #77

Originally a pictograph of a single foot (the ancestor of 趾) — borrowed early to write 'stop'. As a radical 止 hosts characters about footsteps, halting, and standing: 步 (step), 此 (this — feet planted here), 武 (martial — halting weapons), 歪 (askew), 正 (upright). Compact but historically central.