遭 (zāo): to meet by chance (usually with misfortune), classifier for events: time, turn, incident
遭 (zāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to meet by chance (usually with misfortune).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 辶 (semantic) and 曹 (phonetic). It ranks #1047 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 遭 walk. Its radical form 辶 (walk) appears in many related characters such as 边 (biān, side), 过 (guò, to pass, past), 还 (hái, still, return).
Definitions
- to meet by chance (usually with misfortune)
- classifier for events: time, turn, incident
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 遭 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 遭
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 遭殃verb | zāo yāng | to suffer a calamity |
| 惨遭verb | cǎn zāo | to suffer (defeat, death etc) |
| 免遭verb | miǎn zāo | to avoid suffering |
| 遭遇战noun | zāo yù zhàn | (military) encounter |
| 遭难verb | zāo nàn | to run into misfortune |
| 遭逢verb | zāo féng | to encounter (sth unpleasant) |
| 破题儿第一遭 | pò tí r dì yī zāo | (coll.) one's first time ever experiencing sth (esp. sth notable or unusual) |
| 遭重verb | zāo zhòng | (slang) to suffer serious consequences or harm |
| 破屋又遭连夜雨 | pò wū yòu zāo lián yè yǔ | see 屋漏偏逢連夜雨|屋漏偏逢连夜雨 |
| 周遭noun | zhōu zāo | surrounding |
| 遭际 | zāo jì | (literary) fortunes and misfortunes |
| 惨遭不幸 | cǎn zāo bù xìng | to meet with disaster |
| 屋漏更遭连夜雨phrase | wū lòu gèng zāo lián yè yǔ | when it rains, it pours (idiom) |
| 遭罪verb | zāo zuì | to endure hardship |
| 遭拒verb | zāo jù | to meet with a refusal (e.g. visa) |
遭 appears in 20 compound words: 60 as the first character, 25 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 遭 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
遭字在日常生活中使用频率较低。
zāo zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .
The character "遭" is not frequently used in everyday life.
...0-50%也无法套现?全球10大私募巨头遭遇“退出寒冬”-FX168
. . . 0 5 0 yě wú fǎ tào xiàn ? quán qiú 1 0 dà sī mù jù tóu zāo yù tuì chū hán dōng F X 1 6 8
... 0-50% can't be cashed out? The world's top 10 private equity giants suffered an "exit winter" - FX168
福建女孩扶起骑车摔倒老人 遭索赔人民币22万缠讼近1年
fú jiàn nǚ hái fú qǐ qí chē shuāi dǎo lǎo rén zāo suǒ péi rén mín bì 2 2 wàn chán sòng jìn 1 nián
Fujian girl helped up and fell on a bicycle and fell down an old man and was sued for nearly 1 year with a claim of RMB 220,000
移植心脏运送遭干冰冻坏 男童苦撑2月亡
yí zhí xīn zāng yùn sòng zāo gān bīng dòng huài nán tóng kǔ chēng 2 yuè wáng
The transplanted heart was damaged by dry ice and the boy died in February
快讯/闯入川普海湖庄园遭击毙 21岁嫌身分曝光!家人才刚报失踪
kuài xùn chuǎng rù chuān pǔ hǎi hú zhuāng yuán zāo jī bì 2 1 suì xián shēn fēn pù guāng ! jiā rén cái gāng bào shī zōng
News/Breaking into Trump's Mar-a-Lago was killed and the identity of the 21-year-old suspect was exposed! The family has just been reported missing
(外代一线)美国加州遭遇冬季风暴袭击
( wài dài yī xiàn ) měi guó jiā zhōu zāo yù dōng jì fēng bào xí jī
California, USA, was hit by a winter storm
遭受心脏病困扰的人数增加了。
Zāoshòu xīnzàngbìng kùnrǎo de rénshù zēngjiā le.
The number of people suffering from heart disease has increased.
番茄容易遭受很多病害。
Fānqié róngyì zāoshòu hěn duō bìnghài.
The tomato is subject to a number of diseases.
公司遭受了巨大的损失。
Gōngsī zāoshòu le jùdà de sǔnshī.
The company suffered big losses.
日本非常容易遭受到地震。
Rìběn fēicháng róngyì zāoshòu dào dìzhèn.
Japan is very subject to earthquakes.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 辶 (walk) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 遭 (zāo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 遭 and 槽?
How many strokes does 遭 have?
What is the radical of 遭?
What are the components of 遭?
What are common words containing 遭?
What characters sound the same as 遭 (zāo)?
Is 遭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 遭 with real-time feedback
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