Traditional: 係

#1768 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

department (faculty), system, to tie, to relate to

Word origin

Originally a pictograph of a hand holding silk threads, depicting connection and binding. From this come the senses of tying, linking, and an organised system or faculty.

Origin
pictograph
Root
丿 (a hand) over 糸 (sī, silk threads)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 系

Examples

He is a student in the Chinese department.

gòngbǎi

This department has three hundred students in total.

xié

Please tie your shoelaces properly.

This matter relates to affairs of the state.

She teaches in the physics department.

系 (xì) most often means a university department or faculty, and also a system. As a verb it can mean to tie or to relate to. The traditional forms 係 and 系 cover overlapping senses.

Appears in 4 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 系.

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

This word is part of lesson 67.