趁 (chèn): to avail oneself of, to take advantage of
趁 (chèn) is a Chinese character meaning “to avail oneself of.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 走 (semantic) and 㐱 (phonetic). It ranks #2072 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 趁 walk. Its radical form 走 (walk) appears in many related characters such as 走 (zǒu, to walk), 起 (qǐ, to rise), 超 (chāo, to exceed).
Definitions
- to avail oneself of
- to take advantage of
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 趁 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 趁机 | chèn jī | to seize an opportunity |
| 趁早 | chèn zǎo | as soon as possible |
| 趁热打铁 | chèn rè dǎ tiě | to strike while the iron is hot |
| 趁火打劫 | chèn huǒ dǎ jié | lit. to loot a burning house (idiom) |
| 趁势 | chèn shì | to take advantage of a favorable situation |
| 趁人之危 | chèn rén zhī wēi | to take advantage of sb's difficulties (idiom) |
| 趁早儿 | chèn zǎo r | erhua variant of 趁早[chen4 zao3] |
| 打铁趁热 | dǎ tiě chèn rè | strike the iron while it's hot (idiom) |
| 趁心 | chèn xīn | variant of 稱心|称心[chen4 xin1] |
| 趁手 | chèn shǒu | conveniently |
| 趁便 | chèn biàn | to take the opportunity |
| 趁愿 | chèn yuàn | variant of 稱願|称愿[chen4 yuan4] |
| 趁钱 | chèn qián | variant of 稱錢|称钱[chen4 qian2] |
| 趁热 | chèn rè | while it's still hot |
趁 appears in 14 compound words: 93 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 7 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 趁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
趁字的写法很特别，让我印象深刻。
chèn zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .
The way the character "趁" is written is quite unique and has left a deep impression on me.
趁火打劫 拖吊2公里要4万?北市严查
chèn huǒ dǎ jié tuō diào 2 gōng lǐ yāo 4 wàn ? běi shì yán chá
Robbery while the fire is in trouble and towing 2 kilometers costs 40,000 yuan? Strict investigation in Beijing City
拖吊10公里要10万!蒋万安怒轰“趁火打劫” 指示局处严查恶霸行为
tuō diào 1 0 gōng lǐ yāo 1 0 wàn ! 蒋 wàn ān nù hōng chèn huǒ dǎ jié zhǐ shì jú chǔ yán chá è bà háng wéi
Towing 10 kilometers costs 100,000 yuan! Jiang Wan'an angrily bombarded the bureau to "rob while the fire is in the fire" and instructed the bureau to strictly investigate the behavior of bullies
...w’s everything?” 就是你趁机更新专案进度、展现专业的时机!
. . . w s e v e r y t h i n g ? jiù shì nǐ chèn jī gēng xīn zhuān àn jìn dù , zhǎn xiàn zhuān yè de shí jī !
... w's everything?" is your time to update the progress of the project and show your professionalism!
台东男情绪不稳坐初来桥边护栏 警耐心沟通趁隙拉回桥面
tái dōng nán qíng xù bù wěn zuò chū lái qiáo biān hù lán jǐng nài xīn gōu tōng chèn xì lā huí qiáo miàn
Taitung man was emotionally unstable, sitting on the guardrail of the bridge when he first came, and the police patiently communicated and took advantage of the opportunity to pull back to the bridge deck
是谁趁我不在的时候看我的日记？
Shì shéi chèn wǒ bù zài de shíhou kàn wǒ de rìjì?
Who was it that read my diary while I was out?
年轻人，要趁着年轻过得愉快！
Niánqīngrén, yào chèn zhe niánqīng guòdé yúkuài!
Young man, enjoy yourself while you are young!
犯人趁着夜晚逃走了。
Fànrén chèn zhe yèwǎn táozǒu le.
The prisoner escaped under cover of night.
趁还有太阳的时候，我该洗衣服。
Chèn háiyǒu tàiyang de shíhou, wǒ gāi xǐ yīfú.
I have to do laundry while it's still sunny.
应该趁年轻多读点书。
Yīnggāi chèn niánqīng duō dú diǎn shū.
One should read many books when one is young.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 趁 (chèn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 趁 and 诊?
How many strokes does 趁 have?
What is the radical of 趁?
What are the components of 趁?
What are common words containing 趁?
What characters sound the same as 趁 (chèn)?
Is 趁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 趁 with real-time feedback
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