(zhí) — HSK 4 Recognition Character: Meaning, Radical & Stroke Order

zhí duty, profession; office, post 11 strokes · Radical (ear) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)
👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 职 when reading — handwriting it is not required (that applies to the 150 writing characters). The stroke animation below is optional but helps memory.

Pronunciation & meaning

Pronounced zhí.

Stroke Order & Practice

Click Animate to see the correct stroke order, then Practice to trace it yourself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
职 — 11 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图(数字为下笔顺序)。

Decomposition

breaks down into 2 components arranged as Left + Right. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

=
left ear
right only

Radical

The radical of is — meaning ear. Radicals are the indexing components used in Chinese dictionaries; they often hint at a character's broad meaning category.

Other HSK 4 characters that share this radical: .

How the character is built

is a phono-semantic compound. The semantic component (ear) carries the meaning, while the phonetic component originally indicated the sound.

HSK 4 Words Containing 职

zhíyè profession; occupation; career
你的职业是什么?
Nǐ de zhíyè shì shénme?
What is your occupation?

Seen in the Real Exams / 真题例句

appears in 21 questions across the 19 mock & official HSK 4 exams on this site. Real exam sentences using it:

他的业是演员。
From Mock Exam 04 →
她如果把这种耐心用在情场和场上,一定会获得很大的成功。
From Mock Exam 14 →
女的原来的业是什么?
From Mock Exam 05 →

Tasks Featuring 职 / 相关任务

Words containing appear in these official HSK 4 task scenarios — study the character in context:

📚 介绍职业经历与单位情况
Career & Company · 职业

FAQ

What does 职 mean in Chinese?

职 (zhí) means duty, profession; office, post. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 职 have?

职 is written in 11 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 职?

The radical of 职 is 耳 (ear). Other HSK 4 characters with the same radical include 联, 聚, 聘.

What is the pinyin for 职?

职 is pronounced zhí.

What HSK 4 words use 职?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 职 appears in 1 word, including 职业 (zhíyè). See the full list above.

zhí All Characters zhí →