指

The Chinese character 指 (zhǐ) is composed of two parts: the radical 手 (shǒu), which means "hand," and the phonetic component 止 (zhǐ), which means "to stop." The character 指 originally meant "to point with the finger," and it has since extended to mean "to indicate," "to direct," and "to refer to."The radical 手 is one of the most common radicals in Chinese, and it is used in many characters related to the hand, such as 执 (zhí, "to hold"), 扶 (fú, "to support"), and 打 (dǎ, "to hit"). The phonetic component 止 is also a common radical, and it is used in many characters related to stopping, such as 停 (tíng, "to stop"), 住 (zhù, "to live"), and 终 (zhōng, "to end").The combination of the radical 手 and the phonetic component 止 creates the character 指, which has a meaning that is related to both hands and stopping. The character 指 can be used as a verb, a noun, or an adjective. As a verb, 指 means "to point with the finger," "to indicate," or "to direct." As a noun, 指 means "a finger," "a pointer," or "an index." As an adjective, 指 means "indicative," "referential," or "specific."The character 指 is a versatile character that can be used in a variety of contexts. It is an important character to learn for HSK learners, as it is used in many common words and phrases.