叉 (chā): fork, pitchfork, prong
叉 (chā) is a Chinese character meaning “fork.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 又 (structural) and 丶 (structural). It ranks #2178 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 叉 a hand 又 grasping an object 丶. Its radical form 又 (again) appears in many related characters such as 友 (yǒu, friend), 又 (yòu, (once) again), 发 (fā, to send out).
Definitions
- fork
- pitchfork
- prong
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA hand 又 grasping an object 丶
Decomposition: ⿴又丶 (layout: full-surround)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 叉 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 叉
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 交叉verb | jiāo chā | to cross |
| 交叉口noun | jiāo chā kǒu | (road) intersection |
| 鱼叉 | yú chā | harpoon |
| 劈叉verb | pǐ chà | the splits (move in dancing) |
| 刀叉noun | dāo chā | knife and fork |
| 交叉点noun | jiāo chā diǎn | junction |
| 分叉verb | fēn chà | to branch |
| 叉车noun | chā chē | forklift truck |
| 母夜叉noun | mǔ yè chā | witch |
| 夜叉noun | yè chā | yaksha (malevolent spirit) (loanword) |
| 叉腰verb | chā yāo | to put one's hands on one's hips |
| 音叉noun | yīn chā | tuning fork |
| 三叉神经noun | sān chā shén jīng | trigeminal nerve |
| 立体交叉noun | lì tǐ jiāo chā | three-dimensional road junction (i.e. involving flyover bridges or underpass tunnels) |
| 交叉学科 | jiāo chā xué kē | interdisciplinary |
叉 appears in 55 compound words: 27 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 42 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 叉 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
Example Sentences
叉字的写法很特别，让我印象深刻。
chā zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .
The way the character "叉" is written is quite unique and left a deep impression on me.
华为知识产权部负责人樊志勇表示，交叉许可可以让标准技术在更多设备上使用。
huá wéi zhī shí chǎn quán bù fù zé rén 樊 zhì yǒng biǎo shì , jiāo chā xǔ kě kě yǐ ràng biāo zhǔn jì shù zài gēng duō shè bèi shàng shǐ yòng .
Fan Zhiyong, head of Huawei's Intellectual Property Department, said that cross-licensing allows standard technologies to be used in more devices.
日圆兑新台币交叉汇率 探底
rì yuán duì xīn tái bì jiāo chā huì lǜ tàn de
The JPY/NTD exchange rate hits a new low
【晒晒咱的镇馆之宝51】叉形骨器:中华文明早期精神世界的重要物证
shài shài zán de zhèn guǎn zhī bǎo 5 1 chā xíng gǔ qì : zhōng huá wén míng zǎo qī jīng shén shì jiè de chóng yāo wù zhèng
[Showcasing Our Museum’s Treasures #51] The Fork-Shaped Bone Tool: A Key Physical Evidence of the Spiritual World in Early Chinese Civilization
医工交叉破局罕见病诊疗 罕见病AI诊断系统Dee...
yī gōng jiāo chā pò jú hǎn jiàn bìng zhěn liáo hǎn jiàn bìng A I zhěn duàn xì tǒng D e e . . .
Medical and Engineering Cross-Breaking Rare Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Rare Disease AI Diagnosis System Dee...
...点 早午下午茶市都有 虾饺/烧卖/凤爪/叉烧包
. . . diǎn zǎo wǔ xià wǔ chá shì dōu yǒu xiā jiǎo shāo mài fèng zhǎo chā shāo bāo
... Order Morning, afternoon tea market has shrimp dumplings/siu mai/chicken feet/char siu buns
汤姆用叉子戳我的手臂。
Tāngmǔ yòng chāzi chuō wǒ de shǒubì.
Tom stuck a fork in my arm.
我们需要多少把叉子？
Wǒmen xūyào duōshao bǎ chāzi?
How many forks do we need?
你想要一把干净的叉子吗？
Nǐ xiǎngyào yī bǎ gānjìng de chāzi ma?
Do you want a clean fork?
他的双脚被交叉捆绑着。
Tā de shuāngjiǎo bèi jiāochā kǔnbǎng zhe.
His legs were crossed.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 叉 (chā)?
Is 叉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 叉 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.