只 (zhī) in Mandarin: (literary possessive/linking particle)

Translation

(literary possessive/linking particle)

Word origin

This entry uses 只 for a literary linking particle, but the classical particle is properly written 之 (zhī). 只 in origin relates to 口 (mouth) with marks below; as a particle it has been borrowed for its sound.

Origin: ideograph
Root: 只 (zhī/zhǐ), 口 (mouth) with two marks; particle use is a borrowing

Other proposed origins

The intended literary possessive is normally written 之 (zhī), a foot 止 over a baseline depicting going forth, later borrowed as a grammatical particle. (之 (zhī, 止 foot over a line))

Stroke order

只

Examples

谊yì。

The flower of friendship.

。

Where the heart points.

千qiān。

A thousand miles away.

。

I just want to rest for a moment.

。

I only want to drink water.

只 (zhī) means (literary possessive/linking particle). It is used as a particle in everyday Mandarin speech.

Related words

的

of, possessive and modifier particle

而

and, but, yet (literary)

所有

all, every, all of

一切

everything, all, every

之前

before, prior to

Appears in 6 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 只.

只是zhǐ shìjust, merely, only 只有zhǐ yǒuonly, just, the only one 只要zhǐ yàoas long as, provided that, if only 只能zhǐ néngcan only, have no choice but to 只会zhī huìcan only, will only 只不过zhī bú guòmerely, only, just, no more than

Used in

Grammar articles

(5)

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只(zhī) - (literary possessive/linking particle) in Mandarin