止

zhǐ

#596 most

frequent character

stop, only, just, till, to

verb

adverb

preposition

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

止 is a picture of a foot, with toes up and heel down. That gave the first meaning, “foot”. It grew to “to stop”, then “to prevent” or “prohibit”, and also “to arrive at”.

Drawn as: foot with toes up

止 as a component in other characters

meaning5 characters

御歧卸趾辵

sound7 characters

齿址扯耻趾芷祉

picture7 characters

此正步企武歨㢟

empty2 characters

肯徙

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Example Sentences

请你在这里止步。

qǐng nǐzài zhèlǐ zhǐbù 。

Please stop here.

我只想休息一下。

wǒ zhīxiǎng xiūxī yīxià 。

I just want to rest for a moment.

我们止步于此。

wǒmen zhǐbù yú cǐ 。

We stop here.

Words with similar meanings

停tíng

stop

A more general term for stopping, commonly used in everyday language.

停止tíngzhǐ

cease

A formal term that implies a complete halt, often used in official contexts.

Homophones

HSK 4

指zhǐ

finger, to point at or to

纸zhǐ

paper

旨zhǐ

imperial decree, purport, aim

止