How to Write 智 (zhì) — Meaning “Wisdom / Intelligence”

Imagine the sun (日) shining on a book of knowledge (知) — wisdom is what you gain when knowledge is illuminated. This visual of sunlight hitting a book helps link the components to the meaning of intelligence.

Start with the top part 知: write the left side 矢 (5 strokes) then right side 口 (3 strokes). Then write the bottom component 日 as a narrow vertical rectangle. A common mistake is making the bottom 日 too wide — it should be about half the width of the top part.

㬎 (xiǎn) is extremely rare and means "bright" but is not used in modern Chinese; 晁 (cháo) is a surname or ancient place name. Unlike 智, these characters do not carry the meaning of wisdom or intelligence and are visually different — 㬎 has three 日 stacked, while 晁 has 日 on top of 兆.

智 appears in common words like 智慧 (wisdom) and 智力 (intelligence), often in academic, psychological, or self-improvement contexts. Culturally, 智 is one of the Five Confucian Virtues (五常), representing wisdom as a key moral quality in Chinese philosophy.

Common words containing 智 include: 智慧 (zhì huì) — Wisdom / Knowledge; 智力 (zhì lì) — Intelligence / Intellect; 机智 (jī zhì) — witty; resourceful.