刹 (chà): Buddhist monastery, temple or shrine (abbr. for 剎多羅|刹多罗, Sanskrit "ksetra"), to brake

刹 (chà) is a Chinese character meaning “buddhist monastery, temple or shrine (abbr. for 剎多羅|刹多罗, sanskrit "ksetra").” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 杀 (phonetic) and 刂 (semantic). It ranks #2193 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 刹 knife. Its radical form 刂 (knife) appears in many related characters such as 分 (fēn, to divide), 别 (bié, to leave), 到 (dào, to reach).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Buddhist monastery, temple or shrine (abbr. for 剎多羅|刹多罗, Sanskrit "ksetra")
  2. to brake

Etymology & Origin

刹

pictophoneticknife

Decomposition: ⿰杀刂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 刹

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
刹车verb/nounshā chēto brake (when driving)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
一刹那nounyī chà nàa moment
刹那nounchà nàan instant (Sanskrit: ksana)
急刹车jí shā chēemergency braking
古刹noungǔ chàold Buddhist temple
刹住shā zhùto stop
刹不住shā bu zhùunable to brake (stop)
什刹海proper-nounshí chà hǎiShichahai, scenic area of northwest Beijing with three lakes
手刹车nounshǒu shā chēhandbrake
刹时chà shíin a flash
刹把shā bǎbrake lever
手刹nounshǒu shāhandbrake
刹车灯shā chē dēngbrake light
罗刹nounluó chàdemon in Buddhism
巴刹nounbā shābazaar (loanword)
刹停verbshā tíngto brake to a halt
20
Total compounds
40
As first character
35
As last character
25
As middle character

刹 appears in 20 compound words: 40 as the first character, 35 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 刹 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

勿wù
0.567452 co-occurrences
钳qián
0.49550 co-occurrences
踩cǎi
0.46488 co-occurrences
塔tǎ
0.4581,196 co-occurrences
那nà
0.427834 co-occurrences
车chē
0.4262,107 co-occurrences
什shén
0.423438 co-occurrences
芦lú
0.39548 co-occurrences
惹rě
0.39250 co-occurrences
檐yán
0.37336 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好刹字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo chà zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "刹" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

机器人短跑超越人类,但刹住是问题

jī qì rén duǎn pǎo chāo yuè rén lèi , dàn chà zhù shì wèn tí

Robots Outrun Humans, but Stopping Is a Problem

爱范儿Aug 2026

这台儿童车还配有可调悬架、后轮碟刹,续航里程为 13 公里,速度两档可调。

zhè tái ér tóng chē hái pèi yǒu kě diào xuán jià , hòu lún dié chà , xù háng lǐ chéng wéi 1 3 gōng lǐ , sù dù liǎng dàng kě diào .

This children's bike also features adjustable suspension and rear disc brakes, has a range of 13 kilometers, and offers two speed settings.

少数派Aug 2026

即使发动机马力很大,如果开车时一直没有松开手刹,动力也很难真正发挥出来。

jí shǐ fā dòng jī mǎ lì hěn dà , rú guǒ kāi chē shí yī zhí méi yǒu sōng kāi shǒu chà , dòng lì yě hěn nán zhēn zhèng fā huī chū lái .

Even if the engine has a lot of horsepower, it’s hard to really get the most out of it if you don’t release the parking brake while driving.

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Apr 2026

甘榜双溪勿刹清真寺开斋节诵经仪式圆满举行

gān bǎng shuāng xī wù chà qīng zhēn sì kāi zhāi jié sòng jīng yí shì yuán mǎn jǔ háng

The Eid al-Fitr recitation ceremony at the Kampung Sungai Bujang Mosque was successfully held

SmzdmMar 2026

【中字】ABS不如人力刹车?赛用ABS是智商税?详解博世M5 C...

zhōng zì A B S bù rú rén lì chà chē ? sài yòng A B S shì zhì shāng shuì ? xiáng jiě bó shì M 5 C . . .

[Chinese Subtitles] Is ABS Inferior to Manual Braking? Is Racing ABS a Waste of Money? A Detailed Look at the Bosch M5 C...

Tatoeba

刹车的功能是使车停下。

Shāchē de gōngnéng shì shǐ chē tíngxià.

The function of the brake is to stop the car.

Tatoeba

除非他们事先修好刹车,我才会买车子。

Chúfēi tāmen shìxiān xiūhǎo shāchē, wǒ cái huì mǎi chēzi.

I'll only buy the car if they fix the brakes first.

Tatoeba

他撞车是因为有人在刹车上做了手脚。

Tā zhuàngchē shì yīnwèi yǒurén zài shāchē shàng zuò le shǒujiǎo.

He crashed his car because someone tampered with the brakes.

Tatoeba

京都有许多古刹。

Jīngdū yǒu xǔduō gǔchà.

There are many old temples in Kyoto.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 刂 (knife) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chà

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 刹 (chà) mean in Chinese?
刹 (chà) primarily means "buddhist monastery, temple or shrine (abbr. for 剎多羅|刹多罗, sanskrit "ksetra")." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2193 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 刹 have?
刹 is written with 8 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 刹?
The radical associated with 刹 is 刂 (knife). This radical appears in many characters related to knife.
What are the components of 刹?
刹 is composed of: 杀 (phonetic), 刂 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰杀刂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 刹?
Common words with 刹 include: 刹车 (shā chē, "to brake (when driving)"); 一刹那 (yī chà nà, "a moment"); 刹那 (chà nà, "an instant (Sanskrit: ksana)"); 急刹车 (jí shā chē, "emergency braking"); 古刹 (gǔ chà, "old Buddhist temple"). There are over 20 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 刹 (chà)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chà: 查 (to check, to investigate), 察 (to observe), 差 (difference), 茶 (tea), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 刹 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 刹 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 刹 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.