Skip to content

迟chí

Character evolution

迟

Hover to feel · click to explore

Simplified · Today

Shuowen

Late. The character combines the movement radical 辶 with 犀 (xī, "rhinoceros") as the phonetic component, suggesting slow, ponderous motion like a heavy animal. The oracle bone form depicts a figure moving with deliberate hesitation, the cumbersome gait of a rhinoceros capturing the idea of arriving after the proper time. This is why 迟 came to mean delayed or tardy, the written form preserving the image of something progressing as slowly as a rhinoceros walks.

Pinyin

chí· HSK 1