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Mythic Mandarin

只有 (zhǐ yǒu): meaning and stroke order

只有 (zhǐ yǒu) means only have ...; there is only ....

只有

Simplified
只有
Traditional
只有 (same form)
Pinyin
zhǐ yǒu

Stroke order of 只有

只

  • zhī variant of 隻|只[zhi1]
  • zhǐ only; merely; just
  • zhǐ variant of 只[zhi3]
  • 5 strokes
  • Traditional form: 祇

Stroke by stroke

有

  • yǒu to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional)
  • 6 strokes

Stroke by stroke

Meaning of 只有

  1. zhǐ yǒu
    • only have ...; there is only ...
    • (used in combination with 才[cai2]) it is only if ... (that one can ...) (as in 只有通過治療才能痊愈|只有通过治疗才能痊愈[zhi3 you3 tong1 guo4 zhi4 liao2 cai2 neng2 quan2 yu4] "the only way to cure it is with therapy")
    • it is only (someone) who ... (as in 只有男性才有此需要[zhi3 you3 nan2 xing4 cai2 you3 ci3 xu1 yao4] "only men would have such a requirement")
    • (used to express lack of alternatives) can only; have no choice but to (as in 只有屈服[zhi3 you3 qu1 fu2] "the only thing you can do is give in")

Radicals of the characters

只
Radical 口 (Kangxi radical 30) · 5 strokes · 口 on top, 八 below
有
Radical 月 (Kangxi radical 74) · 6 strokes · built from 𠂇 and 月

Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan database. Structure: the shapes a character is written with (BabelStone IDS), not necessarily parts that carry meaning or sound.

只有 in our stories

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

  • 人们相信，只有世界太平、有伟大的人出生的时候，麒麟才会出现。

    rénmen xiāngxìn zhǐyǒu shìjiè tàipíng yǒu wěidà de rén chūshēng de shíhou qílín cái huì chūxiàn

    People believed that the qilin appeared only when the world was at peace and a great person was born.

    From the story The qilin HSK 4

  • 她考上了医学院，成绩也不错，可是只有在厨房里做蛋糕的时候，她才觉得自己是真正快乐的。

    tā kǎo shàng le yīxuéyuàn chéngjì yě búcuò kěshì zhǐyǒu zài chúfáng lǐ zuò dàngāo de shíhou tā cái juéde zìjǐ shì zhēnzhèng kuàilè de

    She got into medical school and did well, but only when she was baking cakes in the kitchen did she feel truly happy.

    From the story The three-tier cake HSK 5

  • 可是她更清楚，有些选择本来就没有完美的答案，只有你能不能接受的答案。

    kěshì tā gèng qīngchu yǒuxiē xuǎnzé běnlái jiù méiyǒu wánměi de dá'àn zhǐyǒu nǐ néng bù néng jiēshòu de dá'àn

    But she understood even better that some choices simply have no perfect answer, only answers you can or can't live with.

    From the story No perfect answer HSK 6

Stories using 只有

Dictionary data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Stroke data: Hanzi Writer data, derived from Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License). Animation: Hanzi Writer (MIT licence). Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan (Unicode License v3).