藏 (zàng): Tibet, abbr. for Xizang or Tibet Autonomous Region 西藏, to conceal

藏 (zàng) is a Chinese character meaning “tibet.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 臧 (phonetic). It ranks #907 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 藏 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Tibet
  2. abbr. for Xizang or Tibet Autonomous Region 西藏
  3. to conceal

Etymology & Origin

藏

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹臧 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 藏

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
隐藏verbyǐn cángto hide6
收藏verbshōu cángto collect (works of art, dolls, antiques etc)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
宝藏nounbǎo zàngprecious mineral deposits
藏身verbcáng shēnto hide
储藏室nounchǔ cáng shìstoreroom
躲藏verbduǒ cángto conceal oneself
藏匿verbcáng nìto cover up
埋藏verbmái cángto bury
收藏家nounshōu cáng jiāa collector (e.g. of artworks)
储藏verbchǔ cángto store
藏品nouncáng pǐnmuseum piece
冷藏verblěng cángrefrigeration
私藏verbsī cángto keep hidden
珍藏verbzhēn cánga collection of rare and valuable items
西藏proper-nounxī zàngsee 西藏自治區|西藏自治区
掩藏verbyǎn cánghidden
窝藏verbwō cángto harbor
100
Total compounds
46
As first character
39
As last character
15
As middle character

藏 appears in 100 compound words: 46 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 15 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 藏 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

收shōu
0.56453,482 co-occurrences
隐yǐn
0.5348,172 co-occurrences
躲duǒ
0.5344,748 co-occurrences
阁gé
0.5206,586 co-occurrences
匿nì
0.5165,035 co-occurrences
蕴yùn
0.4741,666 co-occurrences
埋mái
0.4703,440 co-occurrences
珍zhēn
0.4656,226 co-occurrences
馆guǎn
0.46411,260 co-occurrences
西xī
0.45444,594 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (19)

包藏祸心bāocáng-huòxīnHSK 5+

to harbor evil intentions; to conceal malice

phrase
藏传佛教Zàngchuán FójiàoHSK 5+

Tibetan Buddhism; Vajrayana Buddhism; Lamaism

藏龙卧虎cánglóngwòhǔHSK 5+

to have many hidden talented individuals

phrase
藏器待时cáng qì dài shíHSK 5+

to conceal one's abilities and wait (idiom); to lie low and await the opportune moment

phrase
藏头露尾cángtóulùwěiHSK 6+

to tell part of the truth but not all of it

phrase
地藏菩萨Dìzàng PúsàHSK 7+

Kṣitigarbha bodhisattva

躲躲藏藏duǒ duǒ cáng cángHSK 5+

to be in hiding

phrase
金屋藏娇jīnwūcángjiāoHSK 7+

to take a concubine or wife; to keep a mistress tucked away in a luxurious house or apartment

phrase
匿影藏形nìyǐngcángxíngHSK 7+

to hide from public notice; to conceal one's identity; to lie low

phrase
鸟尽弓藏niǎojìngōngcángHSK 7+

to cast somebody or something aside when the purpose has been served

proverb
剖腹藏珠pōu fù cáng zhūHSK 7+

lit. cutting one's stomach to hide a pearl (idiom); fig. wasting a lot of effort on trivialities

phrase
卧虎藏龙wòhǔcánglóngHSK 5+

to have many hidden talented individuals

phrase

Showing 12 of 19 idioms containing 藏.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

藏字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

zàng zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character is written is quite unique and left a deep impression on me.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

花莲第一间! 藏寿司首度进军东台湾 插旗“日出香榭大道”...

huā lián dì yī jiān ! zàng shòu sī shǒu dù jìn jūn dōng tái wān chā qí rì chū xiāng 榭 dà dào . . .

The first room in Hualien! Tibetan sushi entered eastern Taiwan for the first time and planted the flag "Sunrise Champs-Élysées"...

99 健康网Feb 2026

无糖食品真的无糖吗?糊精、麦芽糖浆会隐藏升糖成分吗

wú táng shí pǐn zhēn de wú táng ma ? hú jīng , mài yá táng jiāng huì yǐn zàng shēng táng chéng fēn ma

Are sugar free foods really sugar-free? Do dextrins, maltose syrup hide glycemic components?

百度新闻Feb 2026

柴火灶里烧出的“团聚”,藏着最浓的奉贤年味丨有一种..

chái huǒ zào lǐ shāo chū de tuán jù , zàng zhe zuì nóng de fèng xián nián wèi 丨 yǒu yī zhǒng . .

The "reunion" burned in the wood stove hides the strongest Fengxian New Year's flavor丨There is a kind:

百度新闻Feb 2026

在米兰,冰雪赛场藏着中国式浪漫

zài mǐ lán , bīng xuě sài chǎng zàng zhe zhōng guó shì làng màn

In Milan, the ice and snow arena hides Chinese romance

百度新闻Feb 2026

西藏:马年新春 马上过年

xī zàng : mǎ nián xīn chūn mǎ shàng guò nián

Tibet: The New Year of the Horse is coming soon

Tatoeba

为什么你要试图隐藏自己的情感?

Wèishénme nǐ yào shìtú yǐncáng zìjǐ de qínggǎn?

Why are you trying to hide your feelings?

Tatoeba

要解开谋杀背后潜藏之谜!

Yào jiěkāi móushā bèihòu qiáncáng zhī mí!

Solve the mystery lurking behind the murder!

Tatoeba

海盗把财宝藏进了地底。

Hǎidào bǎ cáibǎo cáng jìn le dìdǐ.

The pirates buried their treasure in the ground.

Tatoeba

我忘了锁储藏室的门。

Wǒ wàng le suǒ chǔcángshì de mén.

I forgot to lock the storeroom.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zàng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 藏 (zàng) mean in Chinese?
藏 (zàng) primarily means "tibet." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #907 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 藏 have?
藏 is written with 17 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 藏?
The radical associated with 藏 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 藏?
藏 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 臧 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹臧 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 藏?
Common words with 藏 include: 隐藏 (yǐn cáng, "to hide"); 收藏 (shōu cáng, "to collect (works of art, dolls, antiques etc)"); 宝藏 (bǎo zàng, "precious mineral deposits"); 藏身 (cáng shēn, "to hide"); 储藏室 (chǔ cáng shì, "storeroom"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 藏 (zàng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zàng: 脏 (dirty), 葬 (to bury (the dead)), 赃 (booty). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 藏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 藏 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 藏 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.