How to Write 酯 (zhǐ) — Meaning “ester”

Imagine a bottle of wine (酉) that has a special, delicious (旨) smell — that's an ester. You can think of the right side 旨 as "purpose" or "aim," so the whole character points to the purpose (旨) of fermentation (酉) in producing ester compounds.

Write the left radical 酉 first with 7 strokes, making sure the inner horizontal lines are evenly spaced; then add the right part 旨 with 6 strokes. A common mistake is making the 酉 too wide or forgetting the short middle horizontal strokes inside the wine jar shape.

酯 (zhǐ) means ester, while 酕 (máo) is a rare character meaning "very drunk" and 酖 (dān) means "to indulge in drinking" or "poisonous wine." Visually, 酯 has 旨 on the right, 酕 has 毛 (hair/fur), and 酖 has 冘 (a person carrying a load) — each has a distinct right-side component that changes the meaning.

酯 is a scientific term used in chemistry, especially in organic chemistry and biochemistry, to name compounds like 乙酯 (ethyl ester) and 磷酯 (phospholipid). It appears mainly in textbooks, research papers, and product ingredient lists, so you won't hear it in everyday conversation but will see it in technical or industrial contexts.

Common words containing 酯 include: 乙酯 (yǐ zhǐ) — ethyl ester; 脂肪酯 (zhī fáng zhǐ) — fatty ester; 磷酯 (lín zhǐ) — phospholipid.