吒 (zhā): used for the sound "zha" in the names of certain legendary figures (e.g. 哪吒)

吒 (zhā) is a Chinese character meaning “used for the sound "zha" in the names of certain legendary figures (e.g. 哪吒).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 乇 (phonetic). It ranks #5411 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 吒 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 吃 (chī, to eat), 喝 (hē, to drink).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. used for the sound "zha" in the names of certain legendary figures (e.g. 哪吒)

Etymology & Origin

吒

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口乇 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
哪吒proper-nounné zhāNezha, protection deity
木吒mù zhaMuzha, a figure in Chinese mythology
叱吒chì zhàvariant of 叱咤
3
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

吒 appears in 3 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

爱范儿Sep 2026

周鸿祎曾在 2021 年投资哪吒汽车,后来转让部分股权并停止追加投资。

zhōu hóng 祎 céng zài 2 0 2 1 nián tóu zī nǎ zhā qì chē , hòu lái zhuǎn ràng bù fēn gǔ quán bìng tíng zhǐ zhuī jiā tóu zī .

Zhou Hongyi invested in Neta Auto in 2021, but later sold part of his stake and stopped making additional investments.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

里的铁拐李到《哪吒》里的太乙真人,自带浓郁地方特色的四川口音成了国产动画的“标配”。

lǐ de tiě guǎi lǐ dào nǎ zhā lǐ de tài yǐ zhēn rén , zì dài nóng yù dì fāng tè sè de sì chuān kǒu yīn chéng le guó chǎn dòng huà de biāo pèi .

From Tieguai Li in *Tieguai Li* to Taiyi Zhenren in *Nezha*, the distinctive Sichuan accent has become a “standard feature” of Chinese animation.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

其中,《哪吒之魔童闹海》的叙事时空,精准对应孙悟空横空出世之前的洪荒阶段。

qí zhōng , nǎ zhā zhī mó tóng nào hǎi de xù shì shí kōng , jīng zhǔn duì yīng sūn wù kōng héng kōng chū shì zhī qián de hóng huāng jiē duàn .

In particular, the narrative setting of *Ne Zha: The Demon Boy Stirring Up the Sea* precisely corresponds to the primordial era preceding Sun Wukong’s emergence.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

这一年,“哪吒”风靡全球,动画电影迎来“井喷式”发展。

zhè yī nián , nǎ zhā fēng mí quán qiú , dòng huà diàn yǐng yíng lái jǐng pēn shì fā zhǎn .

This year, "Ne Zha" took the world by storm, and the animated film industry experienced explosive growth.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

一提八仙过海、哪吒闹海、大圣降妖,无需多言,便心领神会。

yī tí bā xiān guò hǎi , nǎ zhā nào hǎi , dà shèng jiàng yāo , wú xū duō yán , biàn xīn lǐng shén huì .

Just mention “The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea,” “Nezha Stirring Up Trouble in the Sea,” or “The Great Sage Subduing Demons,” and everyone immediately gets the reference without needing further explanation.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 口 (mouth) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 吒 (zhā) mean in Chinese?
吒 (zhā) primarily means "used for the sound "zha" in the names of certain legendary figures (e.g. 哪吒)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #5411 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 吒 and 宅?
吒 (zhā) and 宅 (zhái) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 宀 (same 乇 component).
How many strokes does 吒 have?
吒 is written with 6 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 吒?
The radical associated with 吒 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 吒?
吒 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 乇 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口乇 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 吒?
Common words with 吒 include: 哪吒 (né zhā, "Nezha, protection deity"); 木吒 (mù zha, "Muzha, a figure in Chinese mythology"); 叱吒 (chì zhà, "variant of 叱咤"). There are over 3 compound words containing this character.
Is 吒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 吒 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 吒 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.