曾 (céng): once
曾 (céng) is a Chinese character meaning “once.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丷 (structural) and 日 (structural). It ranks #463 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 曾 a rice cooker on heat 日, building up steam 丷 and letting it off. Its radical form 日 (sun) appears in many related characters such as 日 (rì, sun, day), 早 (zǎo, early, morning), 时 (shí, time, hour).
Definitions
- once
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA rice cooker on heat 日, building up steam 丷 and letting it off
Stroke Order
Practice writing 曾 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 曾
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 未曾 | wèi céng | hasn't (or haven't) |
| 曾祖父 | zēng zǔ fù | father's father's father |
| 似曾相识 | sì céng xiāng shí | déjà vu (the experience of seeing exactly the same situation a second time) |
| 曾几何时 | céng jǐ hé shí | just a while before |
| 曾祖母 | zēng zǔ mǔ | father's father's mother |
| 曾孙 | zēng sūn | great-grandson |
| 曾祖 | zēng zǔ | great-grandfather (father of one's paternal grandfather) |
| 曾经沧海 | céng jīng cāng hǎi | lit. having crossed the vast ocean (idiom) |
| 曾子 | zēng zǐ | Zengzi (505-435 BC), student of Confucius, presumed editor or author of Confucian classic the Great Learning 大學|大学[Da... |
| 曾都 | zēng dū | see 曾都區|曾都区[Zeng1 du1 Qu1] |
| 曾都区 | zēng dū qū | Zengdu, a district of Suizhou City 隨州市|随州市[Sui2 zhou1 Shi4], Hubei |
| 何曾 | hé céng | did I ever ...? (or "did he ever ...?" etc) |
| 曾参 | zēng shēn | Zeng Shen (505-435 BC), a.k.a. 曾子[Zeng1 zi3], student of Confucius, presumed editor or author of Confucian classic th... |
| 曾外祖母 | zēng wài zǔ mǔ | great-grandmother (mother's grandmother) |
| 曾外祖父 | zēng wài zǔ fù | great-grandfather (mother's grandfather) |
曾 appears in 29 compound words: 86 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 3 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 曾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
他曾经在一家跨国公司工作，积累了丰富的国际经验。
Tā céngjīng zài yì jiā kuàguó gōngsī gōngzuò, jīlěi le fēngfù de guójì jīngyàn.
He once worked at a multinational company and accumulated rich international experience.
荣誉观护人提供曾经毒贩第二人生 获厨艺大奖肯定
róng yù guàn hù rén tí gōng céng jīng dú fàn dì èr rén shēng huò chú yì dà jiǎng kěn dìng
Honorary Guardian Provided Second Life of a former drug dealer and was recognized by the Cooking Award
龙吟虎啸:美元地位曾经衰落
lóng yín hǔ xiào : měi yuán dì wèi céng jīng shuāi luò
The roar of the dragon and the roar: The status of the dollar has declined
倾销争议 天声董事长张水圳曾硬杠美政府
qīng xiāo zhēng yì tiān shēng dǒng shì cháng zhāng shuǐ 圳 céng yìng gàng měi zhèng fǔ
Dumping controversy Tiansheng Chairman Zhang Shuizhen once slammed the US government
你还是曾经那个少年!苏翊鸣斩获中国队首金
nǐ hái shì céng jīng nā gě shǎo nián ! sū 翊 míng zhǎn huò zhōng guó duì shǒu jīn
You're still the same teenager! Su Yiming wins China's first gold.
...!苏翊鸣生日当天获男子坡面障碍技巧金牌 曾..
. . . ! sū 翊 míng shēng rì dāng tiān huò nán zǐ pō miàn zhàng ài jì qiǎo jīn pái céng . .
...! Su Yiming won the gold medal in men's steeplechase on his birthday had...
您曾经食物中毒过吗？
Nín céngjīng shíwùzhòngdú guo ma?
Have you ever had food poisoning?
你曾经爬过阿苏山吗？
Nǐ céngjīng pá guo āsū Shān ma?
Have you ever climbed Mt. Aso?
你曾试过用水肺潜水吗？
Nǐ céng shì guo yòng shuǐfèi qiánshuǐ ma?
Have you ever tried scuba diving?
你曾经梦想在天空飞翔吗？
Nǐ céngjīng mèngxiǎng zài tiānkōng fēixiáng ma?
Do you ever dream about flying through the sky?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 曾 (céng) mean in Chinese?
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What characters sound the same as 曾 (céng)?
Is 曾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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