Chinese Character Wiki
刺

cì, cī

stab

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 朿 represents the sound.

Components
朿 sound,iconic component

朿  Sound Iconic component

cì

  

thorn, stab

Pictograph of a thorned weapon or plant.

刂 meaning component

刂  Meaning component

dāo

  

knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Evolution

刺 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
刺 Clerical script Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical script

Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)
刺 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

刺  

cì

stab; prick, irritate; prod; thorn; sting; thrust; to prick; to pierce; to stab; to assassinate; to murder

刺  

cī

(onom.) whoosh

Most common words with 刺
Freq.
Word
Meaning

刺激

to provoke

刺

thorn

讽刺

to satirize

刺杀

to assassinate

刺客

assassin

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

莿

Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)

莿

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[tsʰ]ek-s

tshjeH

cì

sharp point, thorn

*[tsʰ]ek

tshjek

cì

pierce, stab


Statistics

HSK level 4

Appears in 39.5963% of movies

1016th most common character in movies

1058th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

8

Unicode

U+523A

Shuowen

“刺，君殺大夫曰刺。刺，直傷也。从刀，从朿，朿亦聲。”


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