(chéng): Cheng (c. 2000 BC), third of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 Farmer God, to bear, to carry

(chéng) is a Chinese character meaning “cheng (c. 2000 bc), third of the legendary flame emperors 炎帝 descended from shennong 神農|神农 farmer god.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (hand). It ranks #639 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, three hands 手 lifting a dead body 了. Its radical form (hand) appears in many related characters such as (shǒu, hand), (, hit, make), (zhǎo, to look for).

Native pronunciation
HSK 5Radical: hand7 strokesFrequency #639

Definitions

  1. Cheng (c. 2000 BC), third of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 Farmer God
  2. to bear
  3. to carry

Etymology & Origin

ideographicThree hands 手 lifting a dead body 了

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbchéng rènto admit5
verbchéng nuòto promise6
verbchéng shòuto bear5
verbchéng dānto undertake5
verbjì chéngto inherit6
verbchéng bànto undertake6
verbchuán chéngto pass on (to future generations)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
chéng bāo shāngcontractor
jì chéng rénheir
fèng chengto fawn on
chéng méngto be indebted (to sb)
jì chéng quánright of inheritance
chéng zàito bear the weight
chéng bāo réncontractor
ē yú fèng chéngflattering and fawning (idiom)
zhóu chéng(mechanical) bearing
chéng bāoto contract
tǎn chéngto confess
chéng zhòng(usu. of a structural component of a building) to bear a load
chéng jìadoption (e.g. of a nephew as a son)
chéng zū rénleaser
chéng shòu lìtolerance
100
Total compounds
61
As first character
18
As last character
21
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 61 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 21 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.

0.650133,092 co-occurrences
rèn
0.584133,627 co-occurrences
nuò
0.52748,802 co-occurrences
dān
0.52761,945 co-occurrences
0.42011,430 co-occurrences
bǐng
0.4134,818 co-occurrences
zhóu
0.4046,114 co-occurrences
zài
0.40314,886 co-occurrences
lǎn
0.4001,110 co-occurrences
shòu
0.39452,194 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

chéngqiánqǐhòuHSK 6+

to inherit the teachings of previous generations in order to inspire future actions

phrase
chéngshàngqǐxiàHSK 5+

to form a connecting link between the preceding and the following

phrase
chéngxiānqǐhòuHSK 6+

to inherit the teachings of previous generations in order to inspire future actions

phrase
gǔn zhū zhóu chéngHSK 7+

ball bearing

phrase
mǎn kǒu yìng chéngHSK 5+

to promise readily

phrase
nǚ jì chéng rénHSK 5+

inheritress

phrase
yīmàixiāngchéngHSK 7+

to come down in one continuous line; can be traced to the same origin

phrase
zǐchéngfùyèHSK 5+

to inherit his father's business or profession

phrase
ēyúfèngchéngHSK 6+

flattering and fawning; sweet-talking

phrase

Showing 9 of 11 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

起袖子,开始认真地打扫房间。

tā chéng qǐ xiù zǐ , kāi shǐ rèn zhēn dì dǎ sǎo fáng jiān .

He rolled up his sleeves and began to clean the room thoroughly.

99 健康网Feb 2026

孕期喝了酒对宝宝有没有影响?丈夫劝酒也要担责任吗

yùn qī hē le jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? zhàng fū quàn jiǔ yě yāo chéng dān zé rèn ma

Does drinking alcohol during pregnancy affect the baby? Does the husband also be responsible for persuading him to drink?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...柯建铭25年来始终站在第一线 完成交棒传致上最高敬意

. . . 柯 jiàn míng 2 5 nián lái shǐ zhōng zhàn zài dì yī xiàn wán chéng jiāo bàng chuán chéng zhì shàng zuì gāo jìng yì

... Ke Jianming has always stood on the front line for 25 years, completing the handover of the baton and expressing the highest respect

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...托邦AI报告震撼华尔街 支付与软体股全面

. . . tuō bāng A I bào gào zhèn hàn huá ěr jiē zhī fù yǔ ruǎn tǐ gǔ quán miàn chéng yā

... Topia AI report shocked Wall Street, and payment and software stocks were under pressure across the board

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

88%的阿拉伯民众反对认以色列政权

8 8 de ā lā bó mín zhòng fǎn duì chéng rèn yǐ sè liè zhèng quán

88% of the Arab population opposes the recognition of the Israeli regime

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

索马利兰盼国际认 愿意允美国运用矿产及军事基地

suǒ mǎ lì lán pàn guó jì chéng rèn yuàn yì yǔn měi guó yùn yòng kuàng chǎn jí jūn shì jī dì

Somaliland hopes for international recognition of its willingness to allow the United States to use minerals and military bases

Tatoeba

不遵守诺是可耻的。

Bù zūnshǒu chéngnuò shì kěchǐ de.

It is a shame not to keep your promise.

Tatoeba

但他没有遵守诺。

Dàn tā méiyǒu zūnshǒu chéngnuò.

But, he didn't keep his promise.

Tatoeba

凶手认了自己的犯罪。

Xiōngshǒu chéngrèn le zìjǐ de fànzuì.

The murderer confessed his crime.

Tatoeba

父母教育我要遵守诺。

Fùmǔ jiàoyù wǒ yào zūnshǒu chéngnuò.

My parents teach me to abide by my promises.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chéng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 承 (chéng) mean in Chinese?
承 (chéng) primarily means "cheng (c. 2000 bc), third of the legendary flame emperors 炎帝 descended from shennong 神農|神农 farmer god." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #639 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 承 have?
承 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 承?
The radical associated with 承 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are common words containing 承?
Common words with 承 include: 承认 (chéng rèn, "to admit"); 承诺 (chéng nuò, "to promise"); 承受 (chéng shòu, "to bear"); 承担 (chéng dān, "to undertake"); 继承 (jì chéng, "to inherit"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 承 (chéng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chéng: 撑 (to support), 成 (to succeed), 呈 (to present to a superior), 诚 (honest), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 承 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 承 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.