载 (zài): to carry, to load

载 (zài) is a Chinese character meaning “to carry, to load.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 哉 (phonetic) and 车 (semantic). It ranks #977 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 载 cart. Its radical form 车 (cart) appears in many related characters such as 车 (chē, vehicle), 轻 (qīng, light), 辆 (liàng, measure word for vehicles).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to carry, to load

Etymology & Origin

载

pictophoneticcart

Decomposition: ⿹哉车 (layout: surround-from-upper-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 载

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
下载verbxià zǎito download5
记载verbjì zǎito write down5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
装载verbzhuāng zàito load
千载难逢phraseqiān zǎi nán féngextremely rare (idiom)
载入verbzǎi rùto load into
过载verbguò zàioverload
车载verbchē zàicarried within a vehicle
承载verbchéng zàito bear the weight
满载verbmǎn zàifull to capacity
超载verbchāo zàito overload
载歌载舞phrasezài gē zài wǔsinging and dancing (idiom)
载货verbzài huòfreight
搭载verbdā zài(of a vehicle) to carry (a passenger or payload)
载体nounzài tǐcarrier (chemistry)
负载verbfù zàito carry
连载verblián zǎiserialized
载人adjectivezài rénto carry a passenger
90
Total compounds
36
As first character
41
As last character
23
As middle character

载 appears in 90 compound words: 36 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 23 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 载 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

记jì
0.70666,916 co-occurrences
搭dā
0.55613,074 co-occurrences
荷hé
0.4785,524 co-occurrences
连lián
0.4647,530 co-occurrences
箭jiàn
0.4334,431 co-occurrences
满mǎn
0.4293,480 co-occurrences
柴chái
0.42518 co-occurrences
运yùn
0.4229,616 co-occurrences
舰jiàn
0.4183,604 co-occurrences
吨dūn
0.4131,801 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

车载斗量chēzàidǒuliángHSK 5+

ubiquitous and numerous

phrase
厚德载物hòudézàiwùHSK 6+

profound virtue sustains and embraces all things

phrase
口碑载道kǒu bēi zài dàoHSK 7+

lit. praise fills the roads (idiom); praise everywhere; universal approbation

phrase
满载而归mǎnzài'érguīHSK 6+

to return home fully loaded; to return home fruitfully

phrase
千载难逢qiānzǎinánféngHSK 7+

once in a blue moon; not occurring once in a thousand years

phrase
颂声载道sòng shēng zài dàoHSK 7+

lit. praise fills the roads (idiom); praise everywhere; universal approbation

phrase
文以载道wényǐzàidàoHSK 5+

literature is a vehicle for moral teaching

phrase
一年半载yīniánbànzǎiHSK 5+

about a year; quite a long while

phrase
怨声载道yuànshēngzàidàoHSK 5+

public discontent is everywhere; discontent is publicly voiced; complaints rise all around

phrase
运载火箭yùnzài huǒjiànHSK 6+

launch vehicle

noun
载歌且舞zài gē qiě wǔHSK 5+

singing and dancing (idiom); festive celebrations

phrase
载歌载舞zàigēzàiwǔHSK 5+

singing and dancing; festive celebrations

phrase

Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing 载.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这辆卡车的载重量是十吨,不能超载。

Zhè liàng kǎchē de zàizhòngliàng shì shí dūn, bùnéng chāozài.

The load capacity of this truck is ten tons; it cannot be overloaded.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

到底有多正?男大生载到班花夜冲险猝死

dào de yǒu duō zhèng ? nán dà shēng zài dào bān huā yè chōng xiǎn 猝 sǐ

How good is it? The male college student died suddenly at night in class

三立新聞網Feb 2026

再遇瓶颈 NASA载人登月任务恐延至4月

zài yù píng jǐng N A S A zài rén dēng yuè rèn wù kǒng yán zhì 4 yuè

Another bottleneck NASA's manned lunar mission may be postponed to April

百度新闻Feb 2026

当年轻人成为过年“主理人”,让团圆找到新载体

dāng nián qīng rén chéng wéi guò nián zhǔ lǐ rén , ràng tuán yuán zhǎo dào xīn zài tǐ

When young people become the "managers" of the New Year, let the reunion find a new carrier

百度新闻Feb 2026

一辆载有8名中国游客的汽车在俄贝加尔湖沉没

yī liàng zài yǒu 8 míng zhōng guó yóu kè de qì chē zài é bèi jiā ěr hú chén méi

A car carrying eight Chinese tourists sank in Lake Baikal

百度新闻Feb 2026

...ne 17e预计今日发布,灵动岛设计、搭载..

. . . yù jì jīn rì fā bù , líng dòng dǎo shè jì dā zài . .

... .ne 17e is expected to be released today, with the Spirit Island design, carrying...

Tatoeba

汤姆载玛丽去波士顿。

Tāngmǔ zài Mǎlì qù Bōshìdùn.

Tom gave Mary a ride to Boston.

Tatoeba

根据圣经记载,上帝用6天创造了世界。

Gēnjù Shèngjīng jìzǎi, Shàngdì yòng 6 tiān chuàngzào le shìjiè.

According to the Bible, God made the world in six days.

Tatoeba

这辆巴士可以载五十个人。

Zhè liàng bāshì kěyǐ zài wǔshí gèrén.

This bus can hold fifty people.

Tatoeba

这辆计程车载了两名乘客。

Zhè liàng jìchéngchē zài le liǎng míng chéngkè.

The taxi picked up two passengers.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 车 (cart) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 载 (zài) mean in Chinese?
载 (zài) primarily means "to carry, to load." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #977 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 载 have?
载 is written with 10 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 载?
The radical associated with 载 is 车 (cart). This radical appears in many characters related to cart.
What are the components of 载?
载 is composed of: 哉 (phonetic), 车 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿹哉车 with a surround-from-upper-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 载?
Common words with 载 include: 下载 (xià zǎi, "to download"); 记载 (jì zǎi, "to write down"); 装载 (zhuāng zài, "to load"); 千载难逢 (qiān zǎi nán féng, "extremely rare (idiom)"); 载入 (zǎi rù, "to load into"). There are over 90 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 载 (zài)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zài: 在 (to exist), 再 (again), 灾 (disaster), 宰 (to slaughter), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 载 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 载 and the traditional form is 載.

Practice writing 载 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.