How to Write 佶 (jí) — Meaning “robust; (of writing) difficult to read”

Imagine a 'person' (亻) who is so 'lucky' (吉) that they become physically strong and robust. For the 'hard to read' meaning, picture that same lucky person writing very messy characters — so it's a lucky but confusing scribble.

The left radical 亻 is written first with a slanted stroke and a vertical stroke, then the right part 吉 starts with a horizontal stroke above two lines and a mouth-shaped square at the bottom. A common mistake is making the 'shi' (士) on top of 吉 too tall — keep it short so the bottom '口' is balanced.

The character 仰 (yǎng) means 'to look up' or 'to admire', with 卬 as its right component, while 仲 (zhòng) means 'middle' or 'second brother', with 中 as its right part. In contrast, 佶 always relates to strength or difficulty in reading — it uses 吉 on the right, not those other components.

佶 is rarely used in daily conversation; it appears mostly in literary or classical contexts, especially in the phrase 佶屈聱牙 (jí qū áo yá) meaning 'difficult to pronounce or read'. You might encounter it in formal essays describing archaic or convoluted writing, but it is not common in modern speech.

Common words containing 佶 include: 佶屈 (jí qū) — (of writing) convoluted; hard to read; 佶烈 (jí liè) — fierce and strong; 佶正 (jí zhèng) — upright and strong.