赞 (zàn): praise

赞 (zàn) is a Chinese character meaning “praise.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 兟 (phonetic) and 贝 (semantic). It ranks #1175 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 赞 money. Its radical form 贝 (shell) appears in many related characters such as 贵 (guì, expensive), 负 (fù, to bear), 责 (zé, responsibility).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. praise

Etymology & Origin

赞

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿱兟贝 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 赞

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
赞成verbzàn chéngto approve5
赞同verbzàn tóngvariant of 贊同|赞同6
称赞verbchēng zànto praise5
赞赏verbzàn shǎngto admire6
点赞verbdiǎn zànto like5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
赞助verbzàn zhùto support
赞美verbzàn měito admire
赞扬verbzàn yángto praise
赞助商nounzàn zhù shāngsponsor
赞誉verbzàn yùto praise
赞成票zàn chéng piàoapproval
赞美诗nounzàn měi shī(Christianity) hymn
赞叹verbzàn tànto exclaim in admiration
赞颂verbzàn sòngto bless
赞不绝口phrasezàn bù jué kǒuto praise without cease (idiom)
赞许verbzàn xǔto praise
赞比亚proper-nounzàn bǐ yàZambia
夸赞verbkuā zànto praise
盛赞verbshèng zànto praise highly
赞叹不已zàn tàn bù yǐ(idiom) to be full of praise and admiration
45
Total compounds
53
As first character
36
As last character
11
As middle character

赞 appears in 45 compound words: 53 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 11 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 赞 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

扬yáng
0.6136,458 co-occurrences
赏shǎng
0.6064,154 co-occurrences
韵yùn
0.54833 co-occurrences
颂sòng
0.5301,050 co-occurrences
助zhù
0.52712,654 co-occurrences
誉yù
0.5273,430 co-occurrences
叹tàn
0.523750 co-occurrences
称chēng
0.51012,834 co-occurrences
坚jiān
0.4331,142 co-occurrences
诗shī
0.4081,254 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

不赞一词bùzànyīcíHSK 5+

to not say a word; to keep quiet; to make no comment

phrase
赞不绝口zànbùjuékǒuHSK 5+

to ceaselessly praise; to be full of praise

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

大家都赞同这个方案,认为切实可行。

Dàjiā dōu zàntóng zhè gè fāng'àn, rènwéi qièshí kěxíng.

Everyone agrees with this plan and believes it is feasible.

EttodayFeb 2026

台湾实力提升!周东佑京盛赞投手群 近藤健介:首战很重要

tái wān shí lì tí shēng ! zhōu dōng yòu jīng shèng zàn tóu shǒu qún jìn téng jiàn jiè : shǒu zhàn hěn chóng yāo

Taiwan's strength has improved! Zhou Dongyujing praised the pitching staff Kensuke Kondo: The first game is very important

NewsFeb 2026

米兰大教堂雕像 赞助修复便可有条件借展

mǐ lán dà jiào táng diāo xiàng zàn zhù xiū fù biàn kě yǒu tiáo jiàn jiè zhǎn

Sculptures of Milan Cathedral Sponsor restoration efforts to qualify for temporary exhibition loans

NewsFeb 2026

...引4千万人围观 6岁潮男Chok样曝光获赞“母胎帅哥”

. . . yǐn qiān wàn rén wéi guàn suì cháo nán yàng pù guāng huò zàn mǔ tāi shuài gē

...Drawing 40 million viewers, the 6-year-old fashionista's cool poses go viral, earning him the title "born-with-it hottie."

NewsFeb 2026

神韵德州麦克艾伦满场 市长赞震撼人心

shén yùn dé zhōu mài kè ài lún mǎn chǎng shì cháng zàn zhèn hàn rén xīn

Shen Yun Fills McAllen, Texas to Capacity Mayor Praises Performance as "Truly Moving"

百度新闻Feb 2026

「新春走基层」国外游客称赞贵州“秒通关”

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng guó wài yóu kè chèn zàn guì zhōu miǎo tōng guān

"Spring Festival Grassroots Report" Foreign Tourists Praise Guizhou's "Instant Clearance"

Tatoeba

父亲绝不会赞成我结婚。

Fùqīn juébù huì zànchéng wǒ jiéhūn.

Father will never approve of my marriage.

Tatoeba

马克是如此的诚实所以每个人都赞扬他。

Mǎkè shì rúcǐ de chéngshí suǒyǐ měigerén dōu zànyáng tā.

Mark is so honest that everybody commends him for it.

Tatoeba

很抱歉那个问题我不赞成你。

Hěn bàoqiàn nàge wèntí wǒ bù zànchéng nǐ.

I'm sorry I don't agree with you on that matter.

Tatoeba

她不仅没责怪他,反而陈赞他。

Tā bù jǐn méi zéguài tā, fǎn'ér chén zàn tā.

It wasn't just that she didn't blame him - she actually praised the guy.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 贝 (money) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 赞 (zàn) mean in Chinese?
赞 (zàn) primarily means "praise." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1175 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 赞 have?
赞 is written with 16 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 赞?
The radical associated with 赞 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are the components of 赞?
赞 is composed of: 兟 (phonetic), 贝 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱兟贝 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 赞?
Common words with 赞 include: 赞成 (zàn chéng, "to approve"); 赞助 (zàn zhù, "to support"); 赞同 (zàn tóng, "variant of 贊同|赞同"); 赞美 (zàn měi, "to admire"); 称赞 (chēng zàn, "to praise"). There are over 45 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 赞 (zàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zàn: 咱 (we, us), 暂 (temporary). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 赞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 赞 and the traditional form is 讃.

Practice writing 赞 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.