之 zhī

1. zhī pronoun him; her; them; that
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文
   Notes: 之 may be used as a third person pronoun in Literary Chinese in the sense of 他 or 彼. Its use in this sense is confined to being an object of a verb (Guoyu '之' pronoun 1; Kroll 2015 '之' 1, p. 603; Mathews 1931 '之', p. 129; Pulleyblank 1995, p. 79; Rouzer 2007, p. 13; XHZD '之' 2, p. 974).
2. zhī particle used between a modifier and a word to form a word group
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
   Notes: 1. used between a modifier and a word to form a word group a. to express a subordinate relation; b. to express an ordinate decorative function; 2. Used between a subject and predicate to unify them. In Literary Chinese, 之 is placed between a noun and a verb phrase in the pattern 'N 之 VP' to nominalize it. The verb phrase becomes nominalized, somewhat like an English gerund (Guoyu '之' particle; Kroll 2015 '之' 2, p. 603; Pulleyblank 1995, p. 64; Rouzer 2007, p. 13; Wu and Tee 2015, loc. 973; XHZD '之' 1, p. 974).
3. zhī verb to go
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文
   Notes: A transitive verb with the object being the destination of travel, in the sense of 往 (Guoyu '之' v 1; Pulleyblank 1995, p. 79; Rouzer 2007, p. 13)
4. zhī pronoun this; that
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文
   Notes: A demonstrative pronoun, similar to the modern Chinese 这 or 那. This sense is rarely used, with use mostly confined to the Shijing and Zhuangzi (Guoyu '之' pronoun 3; Kroll 2015 '之' 1a, p. 603; Pulleyblank 1995, p. 79; XHZD '之' 4, p. 974).
5. zhī particle genetive marker
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
   Notes: Equivalent to 的 in modern Chinese; for example, 孝弟也者，其為仁之本與 'Filial piety and fraternal submission! - are they not the root of all benevolent actions?.' (Lunyu 1:2; Guoyu '之' prep. 1; Kroll 2015 '之' 2a, p. 603; Rouzer 2007, p. 13)
6. zhī pronoun it
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文
   Notes: In the sense of 其 (Guoyu '之' pronoun 2; Mathews 1931 '之', p. 129; XHZD '之' 3, p. 974)
7. zhī preposition in; in regards to
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
   Notes: In the sense of 于 (Guoyu '之' prep; Mathews 1931 '之', p. 130)
8. zhī preposition all
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
   Notes: In the sense of 诸 (Guoyu '之' prep 3)
9. zhī conjunction and
   Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
   Notes: In the sense of 与 (Guoyu '之' conj 1)
10. zhī conjunction however
    Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
    Notes: In the sense of 而 (Guoyu '之' conj 2)
11. zhī conjunction if
    Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
    Notes: In the sense of 如果 (Guoyu '之' conj 3)
12. zhī conjunction then
    Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
    Notes: In the sense of 则 (Guoyu '之' conj 5)
13. zhī verb to arrive; to go
    Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文
    Notes: In the sense of 至 or 到 (Kroll 2015 '之' 4, p. 603; Guoyu '之' v 3; Mathews 1931 '之', p. 129; XHZD '之' 5, p. 974)
14. zhī verb is
    Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文 , Subdomain: Function Words
    Notes: In the sense of 是 (Guoyu '之' v 3)
15. zhī verb to use
    Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文
    Notes: In the sense of 取用 (Guoyu '之' v 4)
16. zhī proper noun Zhi
    Domain: Modern Chinese 现代汉语 , Subdomain: Names , Concept: Surname 姓氏
    Notes: (Guoyu '之' n)
17. zhī adjective winding
    Domain: Literary Chinese 文言文
    Notes: (Mathews 1931 '之', p. 130)

Contained in

• 怒而挠之(怒而撓之) if [your enemy] is is prone to anger, irritate him
• 三分之一 one third
• 四海之内(四海之內) all within the four seas
• 能中之与(能中之與) Would that be correct?
• 九牛二虎之力 tremendous strength
• 不解之缘(不解之緣) destiny that cannot be avoided
• 不情之请(不情之請) my presumptuous request (humble expr.); if I may be so bold to ask a favor
• 国之桢榦(國之楨榦) a pillar of the nation
• 满口之乎者也(滿口之乎者也) mouth full of literary phrases; to spout the classics
• 美国之音(美國之音) VOA
• 大王之风(大王之風) the great king's wind
• 杞人之忧(杞人之憂) a person from Qi worries [about the sky falling]; to worry based on groundless concerns
• 垂暮之年 old age
• 饕餮之徒 glutton; gourmand; by extension, person who is greedy for power, money, sex etc
• 水乳之契 water and milk blended together; compatible
• 一笑了之 to laugh away
• 稽古之力 the power of consulting classic texts
• 等闲之辈(等閒之輩) (in the negative) (not) to be trifled with
• 意料之外 contrary to expectation; unexpected
• 刻意为之(刻意為之) to make a conscious effort; to do something deliberately
• 大方之家 learned person; expert in a certain field
• 年之久 period of ... years
• 付之度外 to think nothing of doing something; to do something without considering the risks
• 千里之行，始于足下(千里之行，始於足下) a thousand mile journey begins with the first step
• 呼之即来(呼之即來) to come when called; ready and compliant; always at somebody's beck and call
• 丝绸之路(絲綢之路) the Silk Road
• 手无缚鸡之力(手無縛雞之力) lacking the strength even to truss a chicken; weak; unaccustomed to physical work
• 砚田之食(硯田之食) to make a living by writing
• 柏举之战(柏舉之戰) Baiju war of 506 BC, in which Wu scored a crushing victory over Chu
• 不逞之徒 desperado
• 钱是万恶之源(錢是萬惡之源) Money is the root of all evil.
• 之所以 the reason why
• 涿鹿之战(涿鹿之戰) the Battle of Zhuolu
• 回禄之灾(回祿之災) to have one's house burned down; fire disaster
• 手足之情 brotherly affection
• 骑虎之势(騎虎之勢) a situation like riding a tiger; a difficult situation
• 杞梓之林 forest of wolfberry and catalpa (Lycium chinense and Catalpa ovata, idiom)
• 权宜之策(權宜之策) stratagem of convenience; stop-gap measure; makeshift plan; interim step
• 泛泛之交 nodding acquaintance; slight familiarity
• 付之东流(付之東流) to commit to the waters; to lose something irrevocably
• 食之无味，弃之可惜(食之無味，棄之可惜) to be hardly worth eating, but it would still be a pity to discard it
• 沙漠之狐 Desert Fox
• 持平之论(持平之論) fair argument; unbiased view
• 莫逆之交 intimate friendship; bosom buddies
• 言之有物 (of one's words) to have substance
• 欲娶之 desired to marry her
• 之后(之後) after; following; later
• 一气之下(一氣之下) in a fit of pique; in a fury

Also contained in

永嘉之乱 、 长阪坡之战 、 靖难之役

Word is mentioned most frequently in

Truncated for common words

• 昭公 Lord Zhao The Commentary of Zuo on the Spring and Autumn Annals 春秋左氏傳 — count: 1786
• 襄公 Lord Xiang The Commentary of Zuo on the Spring and Autumn Annals 春秋左氏傳 — count: 1552
• Daode Jing 《道德經》 Daode Jing 道德經 — count: 777
• 卷六 Scroll 6 Wenxuan 文選 — count: 691
• 《中庸章句》 Commentary on Doctrine of the Mean Commentaries on the Four Books by Zhu Xi 朱熹四書章句集注 — count: 680
• 卷十一 Scroll 11 Wenxuan 文選 — count: 676
• 卷四十五 Scroll 45 Wenxuan 文選 — count: 674
• 卷五十三 Scroll 53 Wenxuan 文選 — count: 672
• 卷三 Scroll 3 Wenxuan 文選 — count: 653
• 僖公 Lord Xi The Commentary of Zuo on the Spring and Autumn Annals 春秋左氏傳 — count: 648