塌 (tā): to collapse, to droop, to settle down
塌 (tā) is a Chinese character meaning “to collapse.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic), 日 (structural) and 羽 (structural). It ranks #2382 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 塌 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).
Definitions
- to collapse
- to droop
- to settle down
Etymology & Origin
pictophoneticearth
Decomposition: ⿰土⿱日羽 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 塌 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 一塌糊涂phrase | yī tā hú tu | muddled and completely collapsing (idiom) |
| 倒塌verb | dǎo tā | to collapse (of building) |
| 坍塌verb | tān tā | to collapse |
| 崩塌verb | bēng tā | talus slide |
| 塌陷verb | tā xiàn | to subside |
| 塌方verb | tā fāng | to cave in |
| 塌实adjective | tā shi | variant of 踏實|踏实 |
| 死心塌地phrase | sǐ xīn tā dì | to be hell-bent on |
| 塌下 | tā xià | to collapse |
| 塌台verb | tā tái | to collapse |
| 塌房verb | tā fáng | (neologism c. 2020) (of a celebrity) to have one's reputation tank due to a scandal |
| 冲塌verb | chōng tā | to cause (a dam) to collapse |
| 塌架 | tā jià | to collapse |
| 乌塌菜 | wū tā cài | rosette bok choy (Brassica rapa var. rosularis) |
| 塌棵菜noun | tā kē cài | Brassica narinosa (broadbeaked mustard) |
塌 appears in 19 compound words: 42 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 16 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 塌 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
塌生土长的他对这片土地充满感情。
tā shēng tǔ cháng de tā duì zhè piān tǔ dì chōng mǎn gǎn qíng .
Born and raised here, he has deep affection for this land.
淡水民权路面塌陷!惊见1公尺深天坑
dàn shuǐ mín quán lù miàn tā xiàn ! jīng jiàn 1 gōng chǐ shēn tiān kēng
Road Collapse in Danshui's Minquan District! A 1-Meter-Deep Sinkhole Discovered
淡水路面突塌陷2公尺大坑 下班车潮大乱
dàn shuǐ lù miàn tū tā xiàn 2 gōng chǐ dà kēng xià bān chē cháo dà luàn
A 2-meter-deep sinkhole suddenly opened up on a road in Tamsui, causing chaos during the evening rush hour
年轻人超爱的“椰子水”塌房了!配料表造假成重灾区
nián qīng rén chāo ài de yē zǐ shuǐ tā fáng le ! pèi liào biǎo zào jiǎ chéng chóng zāi qū
"Coconut Water," a huge hit with young people, has been exposed! Falsified ingredient lists are a major problem
年轻人超爱的“椰子水”塌房了,如何识别真假椰子水?
nián qīng rén chāo ài de yē zǐ shuǐ tā fáng le , rú hé shí bié zhēn jiǎ yē zǐ shuǐ ?
"Coconut water," a favorite among young people, has been exposed as a scam—how can you tell the difference between real and fake coconut water?
高金3大罪涉贪超过800万 防火墙将崩塌
gāo jīn 3 dà zuì shè tān chāo guò 8 0 0 wàn fáng huǒ qiáng jiāng bēng tā
The three major crimes of Gao Jin involved more than 8 million yuan in corruption, and the firewall will collapse
若有大地震，房屋会倒塌呀！
Ruò yǒu dàdì zhèn, fángwū huì dǎotā ya!
If there's a big earthquake, the house could really collapse!
那座老桥正面临坍塌的危险。
Nà zuò lǎo qiáo zhèng miànlín tāntā de wēixiǎn.
The old bridge is in danger of collapse.
桥在重压之下倒塌了。
Qiáo zài zhòngyā zhīxià dǎotā le.
The bridge crashed under the pressure.
开罗的一栋大楼倒塌了。
Kāiluó de yī dòng dàlóu dǎotā le.
A building collapsed in Cairo.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 塌 (tā) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 塌 and 设?
How many strokes does 塌 have?
What is the radical of 塌?
What are the components of 塌?
What are common words containing 塌?
What characters sound the same as 塌 (tā)?
Is 塌 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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