(chéng): clear, limpid, to clarify

(chéng) is a Chinese character meaning “clear.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2605 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. clear
  2. limpid
  3. to clarify

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵登 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
chéng qīngclear (of liquid)
chéng hǎi qūChenghai, a district of Shantou City 汕頭市|汕头市[Shan4 tou2 Shi4], Guangdong
chéng miànwheat starch
yáng chéng zhōngYang Chengzhong (1913-1987), Chinese nuclear physicist
chéng hǎiSea of Serenity (Mare Serenitatis, on the moon)
qīng chénglimpid
chéng chéng xiànChengcheng County in Weinan 渭南[Wei4 nan2], Shaanxi
chéng chéngChengcheng County in Weinan 渭南[Wei4 nan2], Shaanxi
chéng mài xiànChengmai County, Hainan
lǎn pèi chéng qīngto assume one's post with the aspiration of bringing about peace and order to the nation (idiom)
chéng chèvariant of 澄澈[cheng2 che4]
huáng dēng dēngglistening yellow
chéng fěnwheat starch
chéng màiChengmai County, Hainan
chéng yuānclear, deep water
16
Total compounds
75
As first character
6
As last character
19
As middle character

appears in 16 compound words: 75 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 19 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

qīng
0.56439,676 co-occurrences
chè
0.465624 co-occurrences
shā
0.4181,350 co-occurrences
mài
0.4051,206 co-occurrences
qiān
0.399546 co-occurrences
0.3854,398 co-occurrences
zhēn
0.3805,310 co-occurrences
zhá
0.371384 co-occurrences
qìng
0.3691,806 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.3615,118 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

lǎn pèi chéng qīngHSK 7+

to assume one's post with the aspiration of bringing about peace and order to the nation (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这条流经三个省份,滋养了沿岸的农田。

zhè tiáo chéng liú jīng sān gě shěng fèn , zī yǎng le yán àn de nóng tián .

This clear stream flows through three provinces, nourishing the farmland along its banks.

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Mar 2026

PostBru清诈骗短信非官方发出 提醒公众提高警惕

P o s t B r u chéng qīng zhà piàn duǎn xìn fēi guān fāng fā chū tí xǐng gōng zhòng tí gāo jǐng tì

PostBru clarifies that fraudulent text messages were not sent by the company and urges the public to remain vigilant

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

【时光外的画里干坤】汪汉/花的名字

shí guāng wài de huà lǐ gān 坤 wāng hàn chéng huā de míng zì

Wang Hancheng/The name of the flower

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...像水宙翠自拍惊现“胸部变化”引热议 晒照清是因为它

. . . xiàng shuǐ zhòu cuì zì pāi jīng xiàn xiōng bù biàn huà yǐn rè yì shài zhào chéng qīng shì yīn wéi tā

... Like Shui Zhoucui's selfie, the "chest change" caused heated discussions, and the photo was clarified because of it

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

范式智能(06682.HK)清AI替代传闻:主营业务受益大模型迭代,...

fàn shì zhì néng ( 0 6 6 8 2 . H K ) chéng qīng A I tì dài chuán wén : zhǔ yíng yè wù shòu yì dà mó xíng dié dài , . . .

Paradigm Intelligence (06682.HK) clarifies rumors of AI substitution: its main business benefits from the iteration of large models,...

LtnFeb 2026

Karina被吃豆腐?韩男星清:我是手痒

K a r i n a bèi chī dòu fǔ ? hán nán xīng chéng qīng : wǒ shì shǒu yǎng

Karina was eaten tofu? The Korean actor clarified: I have itchy hands

Tatoeba

我们像清这个问题

Wǒmen xiàng chéngqīng zhège wèntí

We want to clear up this problem.

Tatoeba

把问题清一下。

Bǎ wèntí chéngqīng yīxià.

Let's clear up this problem.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chéng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 澄 (chéng) mean in Chinese?
澄 (chéng) primarily means "clear." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2605 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 澄 and 瞪?
澄 (chéng) and 瞪 (dèng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 目 (same 登 component).
How many strokes does 澄 have?
澄 is written with 15 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 澄?
The radical associated with 澄 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 澄?
澄 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 登 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵登 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 澄?
Common words with 澄 include: 澄清 (chéng qīng, "clear (of liquid)"); 澄海区 (chéng hǎi qū, "Chenghai, a district of Shantou City 汕頭市|汕头市[Shan4 tou2 Shi4], Guangdong"); 澄面 (chéng miàn, "wheat starch"); 杨澄中 (yáng chéng zhōng, "Yang Chengzhong (1913-1987), Chinese nuclear physicist"); 澄海 (chéng hǎi, "Sea of Serenity (Mare Serenitatis, on the moon)"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 澄 (chéng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chéng: 橙 (orange tree), 撑 (to support), 成 (to succeed), 呈 (to present to a superior), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 澄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 澄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.