岔 (chà): fork in road, bifurcation, branch in road, river, mountain range etc

岔 (chà) is a Chinese character meaning “fork in road.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 分 (structural) and 山 (structural). It ranks #2818 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 岔 a road being split 分 by a mountain 山. Its radical form 山 (mountain) appears in many related characters such as 山 (shān, mountain), 岁 (suì, years old), 岸 (àn, bank).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. fork in road
  2. bifurcation
  3. branch in road, river, mountain range etc

Etymology & Origin

岔

ideographicA road being split 分 by a mountain 山

Decomposition: ⿱分山 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
岔子nounchà zibranch road
出岔子verbchū chà zito go wrong
打岔verbdǎ chàinterruption
岔路nounchà lùfork in the road
岔开chà kāito diverge
岔道nounchà dàoside road
岔口nounchà kǒujunction
道岔noundào chàrailroad switch
岔流nounchà liúbranch stream
三岔口sān chà kǒuAt the Crossroads, famous opera, based on a story from 水滸傳|水浒传
找岔子verbzhǎo chà zito look for blemishes
隔三岔五gé sān chà wǔvariant of 隔三差五
分岔verbfēn chà(formal) to bifurcate
听岔tīng chàto mishear
眼岔verbyǎn chàto mistake for sth else
19
Total compounds
37
As first character
37
As last character
26
As middle character

岔 appears in 19 compound words: 37 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 26 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 岔 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

路lù
0.4655,308 co-occurrences
沟gōu
0.392168 co-occurrences
道dào
0.3872,426 co-occurrences
挤jǐ
0.38346 co-occurrences
河hé
0.3811,050 co-occurrences
辙zhé
0.37712 co-occurrences
口kǒu
0.3721,630 co-occurrences
乡xiāng
0.368360 co-occurrences
分fēn
0.3672,734 co-occurrences
村cūn
0.357946 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

岔字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

chà zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "岔" has different usages in different contexts.

少数派Aug 2026

呼吸过于急促或浅表,可能更容易岔气,也会让我们更容易疲劳。

hū xī guò yú jí cù huò qiǎn biǎo , kě néng gēng róng yì chà qì , yě huì ràng wǒ men gēng róng yì pí láo .

Breathing that is too rapid or shallow may make us more prone to shortness of breath and also cause us to tire more easily.

少数派Jun 2026

于是下到三分之一左右的位置时,在岔路口切入左侧的小路。

yú shì xià dào sān fēn zhī yī zuǒ yòu de wèi zhì shí , zài chà lù kǒu qiē rù zuǒ cè de xiǎo lù .

So, when you’ve reached about one-third of the way down, turn onto the small path on the left at the fork.

爱范儿Jun 2026

比如文件该怎么命名、某个字段默认填啥、到了某个岔路口该往哪走。

bǐ rú wén jiàn gāi zěn má mìng míng , mǒu gè zì duàn mò rèn tián 啥 , dào le mǒu gè chà lù kǒu gāi wǎng nǎ zǒu .

For example, how to name files, what to enter by default in certain fields, and which path to take when you reach a fork in the road.

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

残疾男子独自在家 隔三岔五收到邻居送的瓜果蔬菜:感觉很幸福

cán jí nán zǐ dú zì zài jiā gé sān chà wǔ shōu dào lín jū sòng de guā guǒ shū cài : gǎn jué hěn xìng fú

A man with a disability lives alone at home and receives fruits and vegetables from his neighbors every now and then: he feels very happy.

Am730Mar 2026

头发|冇染发但头发变枯黄开岔?恐用风筒常洗头习惯出事!医生揭4习惯超...

tóu fā 冇 rǎn fā dàn tóu fā biàn kū huáng kāi chà ? kǒng yòng fēng tǒng cháng xǐ tóu xí guàn chū shì ! yī shēng jiē 4 xí guàn chāo . . .

Hair | Not Dyeing Your Hair, But It’s Still Dry, Dull, and Split-Ended? Your Habits of Frequent Hair Washing and Blow-Drying Might Be to Blame! Doctors Reveal 4 Habits That Are Extremely...

Tatoeba

我希望您没出什么岔子。

Wǒ xīwàng nín méi chū shénme chàzi.

I hope you did not have any problem.

Tatoeba

我们来到了岔路口。

Wǒmen láidào le chàlù kǒu.

We've come to a fork in the road.

Tatoeba

我们到达岔路口时,犹豫是继续往城镇走去,还是继续往山上走去。

Wǒmen dàodá chàlù kǒu shí, yóuyù shì jìxù wǎng chéngzhèn zǒuqù, háishi jìxù wǎng Shānshàng zǒuqù.

When we reached the fork, we hesitated between continuing towards the town or continuing towards the mountains.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chà

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 岔 (chà) mean in Chinese?
岔 (chà) primarily means "fork in road." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2818 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 岔 have?
岔 is written with 7 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 岔?
The radical associated with 岔 is 山 (mountain). This radical appears in many characters related to mountain.
What are the components of 岔?
岔 is composed of: 分 (structural), 山 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱分山 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 岔?
Common words with 岔 include: 岔子 (chà zi, "branch road"); 出岔子 (chū chà zi, "to go wrong"); 打岔 (dǎ chà, "interruption"); 岔路 (chà lù, "fork in the road"); 岔开 (chà kāi, "to diverge"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 岔 (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 岔 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 岔 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 岔 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.