撑 (chēng): to support, to prop up, to push or move with a pole
撑 (chēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to support.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 掌 (phonetic). It ranks #2135 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 撑 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to support
- to prop up
- to push or move with a pole
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 撑 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 撑
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 俯卧撑 | fǔ wò chēng | push-up |
| 撑腰 | chēng yāo | to support |
| 硬撑 | yìng chēng | to make oneself do sth in spite of adversity, pain etc |
| 撑杆跳 | chēng gān tiào | pole-vaulting |
| 撑竿跳 | chēng gān tiào | pole-vaulting |
| 撑门面 | chēng mén miàn | to keep up appearances |
| 撑场面 | chēng chǎng miàn | to keep up appearances |
| 撑死胆大的，饿死胆小的 | chēng sǐ dǎn dà de , è sǐ dǎn xiǎo de | fullness for the bold, famine for the timid (idiom) |
| 吃饱了饭撑的 | chī bǎo le fàn chēng de | having nothing better to do |
| 平板支撑 | píng bǎn zhī chēng | plank (exercise) |
| 撑开 | chēng kāi | to stretch taut |
| 四肢支撑式 | sì zhī zhī chēng shì | low plank (yoga pose) |
| 支撑架 | zhī chēng jià | bracket |
| 吃饱撑着 | chī bǎo chēng zhe | having nothing better to do |
| 撑死 | chēng sǐ | full to the point of bursting |
撑 appears in 27 compound words: 59 as the first character, 22 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 撑 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
请撑出你的证件，配合我们的工作。
qǐng chēng chū nǐ de zhèng jiàn , pèi gě wǒ men de gōng zuò .
Please present your identification and cooperate with our work.
...026】发债大时代!每年狂发逾1600亿撑基建 拆解7300亿财储背后的“财技”密...
. . . 0 2 6 fā zhài dà shí dài ! měi nián kuáng fā yú 1 6 0 0 yì chēng jī jiàn chāi jiě 7 3 0 0 yì cái chǔ bèi hòu de cái jì mì . . .
... 026] The era of bond issuance! Every year, more than 160 billion yuan is spent to support infrastructure and dismantle the "financial technology" behind 730 billion treasury savings...
外汇基金“开仓”撑北都基建 港元会否再被狙击?
wài huì jī jīn kāi cāng chēng běi dōu jī jiàn gǎng yuán huì fǒu zài bèi 狙 jī ?
Will the Hong Kong dollar be sniped again?
龙七公:“万亿大市”挑大梁支撑基本面
lóng qī gōng : wàn yì dà shì tiāo dà liáng zhī chēng jī běn miàn
Long Qigong: "Trillion big city" takes the lead to support fundamentals
从球场到社区 三哥力撑学界足球精英梦
cóng qiú chǎng dào shè qū sān gē lì chēng xué jiè zú qiú jīng yīng mèng
From the stadium to the community, the third brother supports the dream of school football elites
移植心脏运送遭干冰冻坏 男童苦撑2月亡
yí zhí xīn zāng yùn sòng zāo gān bīng dòng huài nán tóng kǔ chēng 2 yuè wáng
The transplanted heart was damaged by dry ice and the boy died in February
这条绳子能撑多久?
Zhè tiáo shéngzi néng chēng duōjiǔ?
How long will this rope hold?
绳子不够牢固，撑不住他。
Shéngzi bù gòu láogù, chēng bù zhù tā.
The rope wasn't strong enough to support him.
他用手撑着下巴，听着。
Tāyòng shǒu chēng zhe xiàba, tīng zhe.
He was listening with his chin resting on his hand.
把千斤顶拿过来，我要把汽车撑起来。
Bǎ qiānjīndǐng ná guòlai, wǒ yào bǎ qìchē chēng qǐlai.
Bring the jack over. I'll jack up the car.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 撑 (chēng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 撑 and 下?
How many strokes does 撑 have?
What is the radical of 撑?
What are the components of 撑?
What are common words containing 撑?
What characters sound the same as 撑 (chēng)?
Is 撑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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