之 Links Modifier to Noun in 1,804 Phrases
Answering: “what does zhi mean between two nouns”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
之 links a modifier to a noun the way 的 does, in a classical register. It survives in this corpus in set phrases and in elevated passages.
- HSK level
- 7
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 1,804
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Jeremiah
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Counted
- 100% of a checked sample
Practise it
Tap the words that carry the pattern.
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The same verses, in full
Easiest first: ranked by how much of each verse sits at or below HSK 7, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
但dàn智慧zhì huì之zhī子zǐ都dōu以yǐ智慧zhì huì为wéi是shì。」
Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Luke 7:35 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
然而rán ér，智慧zhì huì有yǒu何处hé chù可kě寻xún？ 聪明cōng ming之zhī处在chǔ zài哪里nǎ lǐ呢ne？
“But where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?
Job 28:12 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他tā穿着chuān zhe溅jiàn了le血xuè的de衣服yī fu；他tā的de名称míng chēng为wéi 神shén之zhī道dào。
He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of God.”
Revelation 19:13 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他tā又yòu领lǐng我wǒ到dào宽阔kuān kuò之zhī处chù； 他tā救jiù拔bá我wǒ，因yīn他tā喜悦xǐ yuè我wǒ。
He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
2 Samuel 22:20 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他tā又yòu领lǐng我wǒ到dào宽阔kuān kuò之zhī处chù； 他tā救jiù拔bá我wǒ，因yīn他tā喜悦xǐ yuè我wǒ。
He brought me out also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
Psalms 18:19 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
你nǐ拿到ná dào你nǐ父亲fù qīn那里nà li给gěi他tā吃chī，使shǐ他tā在zài未wèi死sǐ之zhī先xiān给gěi你nǐ祝福zhù fú。」
You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
Genesis 27:10 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Luke 7 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 7 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 7 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
之 does what 的 does, in the classical register: 万军之耶和华, the LORD of hosts; 干旱之地, a dry land; 出入之处, the place of going out and coming in. A reader who knows 的 can read 之 immediately — the shape is identical — and the difference is one of tone.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 之 1,850 times. 46 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
Where it appears is not random. It survives in fixed titles and in the more formal passages, so it is dense in the prophets and thin in the narrative books. Spotting it is a reliable signal that the register of a passage has lifted.
It is commonest in Jeremiah, with 174 of them, and 84% of all of them fall in the Old Testament — which is mostly a statement about length, since the Old Testament is the longer part of the book.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 之 | zhī | 7 | 1,850 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 7.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 1,804 | 98% |
| the same words doing something else | 46 | 2% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Jeremiah | 174 |
| Isaiah | 163 |
| Ezekiel | 150 |
| Psalms | 108 |
| Deuteronomy | 81 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 之 with a word on each side inside the clause. Where 之 is the classical object pronoun nothing follows it.
30 of 1,804 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 100% were right. Checked by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker. Recall is not measured: this is what the rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
This point is HSK 7 because that is the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'.
Questions
- Does 之 have other uses?
- In classical Chinese it is also an object pronoun standing at the end of a clause, and a few of those survive here. The attributive use — with a noun on both sides — is the one this count is about.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 1,804 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 1,850 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Jeremiah, with 174 — followed by Isaiah (163), Ezekiel (150), Psalms (108).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 之 with a word on each side inside the clause. Where 之 is the classical object pronoun nothing follows it. 30 of its 1,804 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
Related reference pages
Take it further
- 97 ready-made vocabulary decks — by HSK level, by book or by topic, exportable to Anki, Pleco or Quizlet.
- Printable 田字格 worksheets — passages with pinyin, meanings and tracing rows.
- The parallel reader — Chinese, pinyin and your own language side by side, every word tappable.
- The dataset behind these numbers — plain JSON, free to reuse with attribution.
How this was measured
Edition: Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). Every figure comes from one pass over all 1,189 chapters and 31,021 verses, 650,628word tokens in total, using the site’s own segmentation. A construction count is published only when a hand-checked sample of the rule that found it was at least 90% correct; between 70% and that it is published as an approximation, and below it no count is published at all. Generated 2026-09-26.