Example sentences
zhè这gè个zì字zěn怎me么dú读？
How do you read this character?
zì字xiě写cuò错le了。
The character is written wrong.
The story behind the character
字
宀 (roof) over 子 (child). A child born under the roof. The original meaning was to give birth, to nurture. Xu Shen wrote 字, 乳也. It only later came to mean "written character," because characters are also things you bring into being. Every 字 you write started out as a newborn baby.