材 (cái): material, timber
材 (cái) is a Chinese character meaning “material, timber.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 才 (phonetic). It ranks #952 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 材 wood. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).
Definitions
- material, timber
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 材
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 材料noun | cái liào | (raw) material | 4 |
| 身材noun | shēn cái | stature | 5 |
| 题材noun | tí cái | subject matter | 6 |
| 木材noun | mù cái | wood | 6 |
| 材质noun | cái zhì | texture of timber | 6 |
| 教材noun | jiào cái | teaching material | 5 |
| 原材料noun | yuán cái liào | raw and semifinished materials | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 棺材noun | guān cai | coffin |
| 器材noun | qì cái | equipment |
| 素材noun | sù cái | source material (in literature and art) |
| 蠢材noun | chǔn cái | idiot |
| 高材生noun | gāo cái shēng | top student |
| 建材noun | jiàn cái | building materials |
| 取材verb | qǔ cái | to collect material |
| 反面教材noun | fǎn miàn jiào cái | negative example |
| 钢材noun | gāng cái | steel (as raw material) |
| 成材verb | chéng cái | to make sth of oneself |
| 药材noun | yào cái | medicinal ingredient |
| 就地取材phrase | jiù dì qǔ cái | to draw on local resources |
| 人材 | rén cái | variant of 人才 |
| 耗材verb | hào cái | consumables |
| 复合材料noun | fù hé cái liào | composite material |
材 appears in 61 compound words: 8 as the first character, 67 as the last, and 25 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 材 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (8)
to use a talented person in an insignificant position; to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
to use a talented person in an insignificant position; to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing 材.
Example Sentences
这种建筑材料既轻便又坚固，非常适合高层建筑使用。
Zhè zhǒng jiànzhù cáiliào jì qīngbiàn yòu jiāngù, fēicháng shìhé gāocéng jiànzhù shǐyòng.
This building material is both lightweight and sturdy, very suitable for high-rise buildings.
无糖食物有哪些?天然未加工食材多数不含添加糖吗
wú táng shí wù yǒu nǎ xiē ? tiān rán wèi jiā gōng shí cái duō shǔ bù hán tiān jiā táng ma
What foods are sugar-free? Do most natural, unprocessed ingredients contain no added sugar?
...工人暈倒昏迷送院 事前疑行多層樓梯搬建築材料
. . . gōng rén 暈 dǎo hūn mí sòng yuàn shì qián yí háng duō 層 樓 tī bān jiàn 築 cái liào
Worker collapses and loses consciousness, rushed to hospital; suspected to have carried construction materials up multiple flights of stairs prior to incident.
...肚卸貨倒數!懷雙胞胎「四肢超細」 激瘦身材曝光
. . . dù xiè 貨 dǎo 數 ! 懷 雙 bāo tāi sì zhī chāo 細 jī shòu shēn cái pù guāng
Countdown to delivery! Pregnant with twins, her "ultra-slim limbs" reveal a dramatically slim figure.
港大發現新物理原理 突破通風吸音材料極限
gǎng dà 發 現 xīn wù lǐ yuán lǐ tū pò tōng 風 xī yīn cái liào 極 xiàn
HKU Discovers New Physical Principle, Pushing Boundaries of Ventilated Sound-Absorbing Materials
她为一本书收集材料。
Tā wèi yī běn shū shōují cáiliào.
She's collecting material for a book.
用优质材料做的家具卖得很好。
Yòng yōuzhì cáiliào zuò de jiājù mài de hěn hǎo.
Furniture made of good materials sells well.
现在正缺良好的建筑木材。
Xiànzài zhèng quē liánghǎo de jiànzhù mùcái.
There is a shortage of good building wood.
现代版旗袍因能突显女人的身材而闻名。
Xiàndài bǎn qípáo yīn néng tūxiǎn nǚrén de shēncái ér wénmíng.
The modernized version of the qipao is noted for accentuating the female figure.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 材 (cái) mean in Chinese?
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What are common words containing 材?
What characters sound the same as 材 (cái)?
Is 材 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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