How to Write 仔 (zǎi/zī/zǐ) — Meaning “Young animal or meticulous”

Picture a person (亻) carrying a child (子) very carefully to avoid dropping it. This image connects the left and right parts and reminds you of both meanings: 'young animal' (the child) and 'meticulous' (the careful carrying).

Write left radical 亻 as a diagonal stroke then a vertical stroke. Then write 子: first a horizontal hook (㇇), then a vertical hook (亅), and finally a horizontal line. A common mistake is making the left radical too wide or writing the hook in 子 too small, which makes the character unbalanced.

Visually, 仔 has 子 on the right, while 亿 has 乙 (a curved hook) and 什 has 十 (ten). Meaning-wise, 仔 refers to 'young animal' or 'meticulous'; 亿 means 'a hundred million'; and 什 is used in words like 什么 (what) or 'miscellaneous'. They share the same left radical but have completely different right parts.

仔 appears in common words like 仔细 (zǐ xì, careful) and 牛仔 (niú zǎi, cowboy). 仔细 is used daily to tell someone to be meticulous, while 牛仔 often appears in 牛仔裤 (niú zǎi kù, jeans). The character is also seen in literary terms like 仔肩 (zī jiān, responsibility) but that is rare.

Common words containing 仔 include: 仔细 (zǐ xì) — Careful or meticulous; 仔肩 (zī jiān) — Responsibility; burden.; 牛仔 (niú zǎi) — Cowboy.