(cái): wealth

(cái) is a Chinese character meaning “wealth.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #680 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, money. Its radical form (shell) appears in many related characters such as (guì, abbr. for Guizhou Province 貴州|贵州[Gui4 zhou1]), (, to bear), (, responsibility).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. wealth

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿰贝才 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nouncái chǎnproperty6
nouncái fùwealth6
nouncái wùfinancial affairs6
nouncái wùproperty6
verblǐ cáito manage wealth6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
cái bǎomoney and valuables
cái zhèngpublic finance
fā cáito get rich
qián cáiwealth
cái tuánfinancial group
cái zhèng bùMinistry of Finance
cái lìfinancial resources
cái yuánfinancial resources
cái jīngfinance and economics
hèng cáieasy money
shǒu cái númiser
bù yì zhī cáiill-gotten wealth or gains
cái zhèng bù zhǎngminister of finance
cái zhǔrich man
cái lùlivelihood
100
Total compounds
47
As first character
30
As last character
23
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 47 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 23 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

zhèng
0.567166,876 co-occurrences
chǎn
0.56660,348 co-occurrences
0.52844,328 co-occurrences
0.5243,144 co-occurrences
0.51529,643 co-occurrences
0.48210,038 co-occurrences
liǎn
0.4701,374 co-occurrences
jīng
0.47035,340 co-occurrences
ōu
0.43910,548 co-occurrences
qián
0.4384,896 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (25)

àicáirúmìngHSK 6+

to love money as if it were one's life; to be extremely stingy or greedy for money

phrase
bùyìzhīcáiHSK 6+

ill-gotten wealth; ill-gotten gains

phrase
cáidàqìcūHSK 6+

to be rich and act in a rude and overbearing manner

phrase
cáimíxīnqiàoHSK 7+

mad about money; greedy to such an extent that one's rationality is obstructed

phrase
cáiyuángǔngǔnHSK 6+

money or profits roll in; to rake it in

phrase
Cáizhèng DàchénHSK 6+

Chancellor of the Exchequer

fā cái zhì fùHSK 6+

to become rich; enrichment

phrase
gōngxǐ fācáiHSK 6+

Happy New Year (congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous Chinese New Year)

phrase
héqìshēngcáiHSK 6+

An idiom advising people that only by being friendly and not offending customers can you get rich.

phrase
jiàn cái qǐ yìHSK 6+

seeing riches provokes evil designs

phrase
jiǔsècáiqìHSK 6+

wine, sex, avarice and temper; the four cardinal vices

phrase
láomínshāngcáiHSK 6+

to waste both manpower and resources

phrase

Showing 12 of 25 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

务管理是公司运营的重要环节。

Cáiwù guǎnlǐ shì gōngsī yùnyíng de zhòngyào huánjié.

Financial management is an important part of company operations.

東方日報Feb 2026

东方日报C1:倪乐琳幸保色 心郁改名转运

dōng fāng rì bào C 1 : 倪 lè 琳 xìng bǎo cái sè xīn yù gǎi míng zhuǎn yùn

Oriental Daily C1: Ni Lelin is lucky to protect her wealth and change her name to transfer

LtnFeb 2026

长:与贸易夥伴联系 各国盼维持既有关税协...

měi cái cháng : yǔ mào yì 夥 bàn lián xì gè guó pàn wéi chí jì yǒu guān shuì xié . . .

U.S. Treasury Secretary: Contacting trading partners Countries hope to maintain existing tariff agreements...

百度新闻Feb 2026

预见金马|通证券资管马晓立:厚植金融为民底色,以....

yù jiàn jīn mǎ cái tōng zhèng quàn zī guǎn mǎ xiǎo lì : hòu zhí jīn róng wéi mín de sè , yǐ . . . .

Foresight Golden Horse|Caitong Securities Asset Manager Ma Xiaoli: Cultivate finance for the people, to...

百度新闻Feb 2026

10万元物失而复得,长沙火车站春运暖心守护旅客行...

1 0 wàn yuán cái wù shī ér fù dé , cháng shā huǒ chē zhàn chūn yùn nuǎn xīn shǒu hù lǚ kè háng . . .

100,000 yuan of property was lost and recovered, and Changsha Railway Station warmly guarded the passengers' journey during the Spring Festival...

百度新闻Feb 2026

预见金马|信证券刘宛晨:长期资金入市步伐稳健,有....

yù jiàn jīn mǎ cái xìn zhèng quàn liú 宛 chén cháng qī zī jīn rù shì bù fá wěn jiàn , yǒu . . . .

Foresight Golden Horse|Caixin Securities Liu Wan Chen: long-term capital into the market at a steady pace, there ....

Tatoeba

海盗把宝藏进了地底。

Hǎidào bǎ cáibǎo cáng jìn le dìdǐ.

The pirates buried their treasure in the ground.

Tatoeba

汤姆无须钱也能享受。

Tāngmǔ wúxū qiáncái yě néng xiǎngshòu.

Tom doesn't need money to have a good time.

Tatoeba

他被指控犯有好几起侵犯产罪。

Tā bèi zhǐkòng fàn yǒu hǎojǐ qǐ qīnfàn cáichǎn zuì.

He is charged with multiple property crimes.

Tatoeba

俄罗斯面临着严重的政困难。

éluósī miànlín zhe yánzhòng de cáizhèng kùnnan.

Russia is facing great financial difficulties.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced cái

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 财 (cái) mean in Chinese?
财 (cái) primarily means "wealth." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #680 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 财 and 在?
财 (cái) and 在 (zài) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 贝 vs 土 (same 才 component).
How many strokes does 财 have?
财 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 财?
The radical associated with 财 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are the components of 财?
财 is composed of: 贝 (semantic), 才 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰贝才 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 财?
Common words with 财 include: 财产 (cái chǎn, "property"); 财富 (cái fù, "wealth"); 财务 (cái wù, "financial affairs"); 财宝 (cái bǎo, "money and valuables"); 财政 (cái zhèng, "public finance"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 财 (cái)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cái: 材 (material, timber), 猜 (to guess), 才 (ability), 裁 (to cut, to judge), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 财 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 财 and the traditional form is 財.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.