(jiāng): will, shall, to use

(jiāng) is a Chinese character meaning “will.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural). It ranks #132 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, going to bed 丬 at night 夕, a predictable future. Its radical form (inch) appears in many related characters such as (duì, right), (fēng, to confer), (dǎo, to transmit).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. will
  2. shall
  3. to use

Etymology & Origin

ideographicGoing to bed 丬 at night 夕, a predictable future

Decomposition: ⿰丬⿱夕寸 (layout: left-right)

Components:structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
nounjiāng jūngeneral6
adverbjí jiāngabout to5
nounjiāng láiin the future4
adverbjiāng yàowill4
adverbjiāng jìnalmost5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shàng jiànggeneral
bì jiānginevitably
zhǔn jiàngbrigadier general
shào jiàngmajor general
má jiàngmahjong
jiàng shìofficers and soldiers
jiàng lǐnghigh-ranking military officer
jiàn jiàng(archaic) adept and valiant military general
dà jiànga general or admiral
lǎo jiànglit. old general
míng jiàngfamous general
jī jiàng fǎindirect, psychological method of getting sb to do as one wishes (e.g. questioning whether they are up to the task)
yùn dòng jiàn jiàngchampion-level athlete (title awarded by the General Administration of Sport of China based on performance in interna...
gàn jiàngcapable person
guò guān zhǎn jiàngto surmount all difficulties (on the way to success) (idiom) (abbr. for 過五關斬六將|过五关斩六将[guo4 wu3 guan1 zhan3 liu4 jiang4])
100
Total compounds
32
As first character
50
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 32 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 18 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.

jūn
0.593451,734 co-occurrences
xián
0.46721,504 co-occurrences
lǐng
0.46086,418 co-occurrences
shǎo
0.446118,230 co-occurrences
bìng
0.443141,228 co-occurrences
0.43720,724 co-occurrences
men
0.42774,256 co-occurrences
0.409231,588 co-occurrences
wèi
0.40334,860 co-occurrences
0.4024,812 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (20)

cánbīngbàijiàngHSK 6+

defeated troops

phrase
dàshàjiāngqīngHSK 6+

to be about to collapse; to be about to crumble

phrase
diàobīngqiǎnjiàngHSK 7+

to deploy troops and dispatch generals

phrase
ēnjiāngchóubàoHSK 7+

to bite the hand that feeds one; to requite kindness with enmity

phrase
guòguānzhǎnjiàngHSK 7+

short for 過五關斬六將/过五关斩六将 (guò wǔ guān zhǎn liù jiàng)

phrase
qiāng bó zhī zhùHSK 7+

assistance that one gets from another

phrase
jiāngcuòjiùcuòHSK 4+

to continue doing a thing that has been done incorrectly while adapting to the error made

phrase
jiānggōngbǔguòHSK 5+

to make amends for one's faults by good deeds

phrase
jiāng gōng shú zuìHSK 7+

to atone for one's crimes by meritorious acts

phrase
jiāng gōng zhé zuìHSK 6+

see 將功贖罪|将功赎罪[jiang1 gong1 shu2 zui4]

phrase
jiāng jì jiù jìHSK 4+

to turn somebody's trick against him; to beat somebody at his own game

phrase
jiāngqínbǔzhuōHSK 7+

to make up for one's lack of natural talent with hard work

phrase

Showing 12 of 20 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo jiāng zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "将" correctly, one must master the proper stroke order.

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

扩产也来不及!全球记忆体荒成AI竞争关键瓶颈 又一矽谷大老发声示警

kuò chǎn yě lái bù jí ! quán qiú jì yì tǐ huāng jiāng chéng A I jìng zhēng guān jiàn píng jǐng yòu yī 矽 gǔ dà lǎo fā shēng shì jǐng

It's too late to expand production! The global memory shortage will become a key bottleneck in AI competition, and another Silicon Valley elder has issued a warning

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

沙特阿拉伯前官员:任何对伊朗的军事打击都是一场代价高昂的豪赌

shā tè ā lā bó qián guān yuán : rèn hé duì yī lǎng de jūn shì dǎ jī dōu jiāng shì yī chǎng dài jià gāo áng de háo dǔ

Former Saudi Arabian official: Any military strike on Iran will be a costly gamble

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

阿曼外交大臣:美伊下一轮谈判于26日在日内瓦举行

ā 曼 wài jiāo dà chén : měi yī xià yī lún tán pàn jiāng yú 2 6 rì zài rì nèi wǎ jǔ háng

Oman Foreign Minister: The next round of negotiations between the United States and Iran will be held in Geneva on the 26th

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|速滑综合:荷兰老德容四战奥运首夺金

dōng ào huì sù huá zèng gě : hé lán lǎo jiāng dé róng sì zhàn ào yùn shǒu duó jīn

Winter Olympics|Speed skating comprehensive: Dutch veteran De Jong won his first gold medal in four Olympic games

百度新闻Feb 2026

未必是坏事!南马降级成精英标 马拉松回归体验本质

wèi bì shì huài shì ! nán mǎ jiàng jí chéng jīng yīng biāo mǎ lā sōng jiāng huí guī tǐ yàn běn zhì

It's not necessarily a bad thing! South Malaysia is relegated to an elite marathon and will return to the essence of experience

Tatoeba

在箱根待多久?

Nǐ jiāng zài Xiānggēn dāi duōjiǔ?

How long will you stay in Hakone?

Tatoeba

你想头发剪成怎样?

Nǐ xiǎng jiāng tóufa jiǎnchéng zěnyàng?

How do you want your hair cut?

Tatoeba

照顾这个婴儿?

Shéi jiāng zhàogu zhège yīng'ér?

Who will take care of the baby?

Tatoeba

你什么时候去亚美尼亚?

Nǐ shénmeshíhou jiāng qù Yàměiníyà?

When will you go to Armenia?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 将 (jiāng) mean in Chinese?
将 (jiāng) primarily means "will." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #132 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 将 have?
将 is written with 9 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 将?
The radical associated with 将 is 寸 (inch). This radical appears in many characters related to inch.
What are the components of 将?
将 is composed of: 丬 (structural), undefined (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰丬⿱夕寸 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 将?
Common words with 将 include: 将军 (jiāng jūn, "general"); 即将 (jí jiāng, "about to"); 将来 (jiāng lái, "in the future"); 将要 (jiāng yào, "will"); 上将 (shàng jiàng, "general"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 将 (jiāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiāng: 江 (river), 姜 (ginger), 浆 (thick liquid), 僵 (rigid), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 将 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 将 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.