祠 meaning and stroke order
Ancestral temple; to sacrifice
How to write 祠, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 9
Meaning of 祠
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- shrine
- to offer a sacrifice
How 祠 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Spirit.
礻 gives the meaning and 司 hints at the sound.
Radical: 礻 (spirit), shared by 43 characters on this site.
How to remember 祠
The left side 礻 is the spirit radical, used for gods, rituals and worship. The right side 司 (sī) gives the sound and suggests someone in charge, so picture a hall where the family's spirits are looked after: a shrine.
祠 (cí) mostly appears in set words and place names rather than on its own. The most common word is 祠堂 (cítáng), a hall where a clan honors its ancestors, and many famous shrines are named with it, such as 武侯祠 (Wǔhóu Cí) in Chengdu. Example: 村里有一座老祠堂。(Cūn lǐ yǒu yí zuò lǎo cítáng.) There is an old ancestral hall in the village.
Common mistake: Learners often write 祠 with 衤 (the clothing radical, with an extra stroke) instead of 礻, which turns it into a different character family. Also note the reading is cí with a rising tone, not sī like its phonetic part 司.
Common words with 祠
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 祠堂 | cítáng | ancestral hall; memorial hall |
Questions about 祠
How many strokes are in 祠?
祠 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 祠 mean?
祠 (cí) means ancestral temple; to sacrifice. A common word with it is 祠堂 (cítáng), meaning "ancestral hall; memorial hall".
How do you pronounce 祠?
祠 is pronounced cí, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 祠?
The radical of 祠 is 礻, which carries the idea of "spirit". Dictionaries list 祠 under this radical.
What is the difference between 祠 and 庙?
庙 (miào) is a general word for a temple, often for gods or Buddhist and Taoist worship. 祠 (cí) usually honors ancestors or a specific historical person, like a clan hall or a memorial shrine.
Is the meaning to offer a sacrifice still used today?
Rarely. The verb sense appears mainly in classical Chinese texts. In modern Chinese, 祠 almost always means a shrine or ancestral hall, and for offering sacrifices people use words like 祭祀 (jìsì).