砸 (zá): to smash
砸 (zá) is a Chinese character meaning “to smash.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 石 (semantic) and 匝 (phonetic). It ranks #2373 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 砸 rock. Its radical form 石 (stone) appears in many related characters such as 确 (què, certain, true), 碗 (wǎn, bowl), 碰 (pèng, to touch, to bump).
Definitions
- to smash
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 砸 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 砸烂 | zá làn | to smash |
| 砸碎 | zá suì | to pulverize |
| 砸锅卖铁 | zá guō mài tiě | to be willing to sacrifice everything one has (idiom) |
| 搬起石头砸自己的脚 | bān qǐ shí tou zá zì jǐ de jiǎo | to crush one's own foot while trying to maneuver a rock (to a cliff edge, to drop on one's enemy) (idiom) |
| 搬石头砸自己的脚 | bān shí tou zá zì jǐ de jiǎo | to move a stone and stub one's toe |
| 砸场子 | zá chǎng zi | to create a disruption at an event or venue |
| 乱石砸死 | luàn shí zá sǐ | to stone to death |
| 打砸 | dǎ zá | to smash up |
| 砸死 | zá sǐ | to crush to death |
| 考砸 | kǎo zá | to flunk |
| 砸钱 | zá qián | to spend big (on sth) |
| 砸破 | zá pò | to break |
| 小婊砸 | xiǎo biǎo zá | (slang) little biyatch (variation of 小婊子) |
| 砸坏 | zá huài | to smash |
| 砸醒 | zá xǐng | to jolt sb awake |
砸 appears in 20 compound words: 60 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 20 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 砸 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
工人用锤子砸碎了旧地板，准备铺设新的。
Gōngrén yòng chuízi zá suì le jiù dìbǎn, zhǔnbèi pūshè xīn de.
The workers used hammers to smash the old floor, preparing to lay new flooring.
女骑士遭路树砸伤求国赔 嘉院准了
nǚ qí shì zāo lù shù zá shāng qiú guó péi jiā yuàn zhǔn le
The female knight was injured by a road tree and asked for national compensation
三大法人联手买超台股! 外资砸627亿元史上第4大
sān dà fǎ rén lián shǒu mǎi chāo tái gǔ ! wài zī zá 6 2 7 yì yuán shǐ shàng dì 4 dà
The three major legal entities joined forces to buy more than Taiwan stocks! Foreign capital smashed 62.7 billion yuan, the fourth largest in history
陈子强爆发感情金钱纠纷!女总裁砸重金力挺遭冷甩...双方闹上法院
chén zǐ qiáng bào fā gǎn qíng jīn qián jiū fēn ! nǚ zǒng cái zá chóng jīn lì tǐng zāo lěng shuǎi . . . shuāng fāng nào shàng fǎ yuàn
Chen Ziqiang broke out in emotional and money disputes! The female president spent a lot of money to support and was scolded... The two sides went to court
独家/大年初二邻嫌吵狂砸门找碴 屋主:根本不在
dú jiā dà nián chū èr lín xián chǎo kuáng zá mén zhǎo 碴 wū zhǔ : gēn běn bù zài
Exclusive/On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the neighbor was noisy and smashed the door to find ballast Homeowner: Not at all
英国男子打砸香港机场 包中还搜出疑似管制药品
yīng guó nán zǐ dǎ zá xiāng gǎng jī chǎng bāo zhōng hái sōu chū yí shì guǎn zhì yào pǐn
British man vandalizes Hong Kong airport, suspected controlled substances found in his bag.
车头的挡风玻璃被砸至粉碎。
Chē tóu de dǎngfēngbōli bèi zá zhì fěnsuì.
The front windshield of a car was smashed to pieces.
他砸坏的是这扇窗。
Tā zá huài de shì zhè shān chuāng.
This is the window he broke.
他们把箱子砸成了碎片。
Tāmen bǎ xiāngzi zá chéngle suìpiàn.
They knocked the box to pieces.
我搞砸了第一个音符。
Wǒ gǎozá le dìyī gè yīnfú.
I screwed up the very first note.
Character Family
Homophones — Characters pronounced zá
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 砸 (zá)?
Is 砸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 砸 with real-time feedback
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