乍 (zhà): at first, suddenly, abruptly

乍 (zhà) is a Chinese character meaning “at first.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural), 下 (structural) and 一 (structural). It ranks #3271 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. at first
  2. suddenly
  3. abruptly

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
初来乍到chū lái zhà dàoto be a newcomer
乍得zhà déChad
新来乍到xīn lái zhà dàonewly arrived (idiom)
一惊一乍yī jīng yī zhàfrightened
乍现zhà xiànto appear suddenly
乍看verbzhà kànat first glance
乍得湖zhà dé húLake Chad
乍青乍白zhà qīng zhà bái(of sb's face) turning alternately green and white
春光乍泄chūn guāng zhà xièspring sunshine emerges to bring the world alive (idiom)
乍暖还寒phrasezhà nuǎn huán hán(idiom) (of early spring weather) alternating between warm and cold
猛乍měng zhàsuddenly
乍浦proper-nounzhà pǔZhapu, a town and port on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang, historically significant as a trading point an...
12
Total compounds
58
As first character
17
As last character
25
As middle character

乍 appears in 12 compound words: 58 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 25 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

新来乍到xīn lái zhà dào

newly arrived (idiom)

phrase
乍暖还寒zhànuǎnhuánhán

with temperatures fluctuating between warm and cold

phrase

Example Sentences

爱范儿Sep 2026

它既是跌落时的手机守护者,也是经久耐用的陪伴者,既要有乍见之欢,更应该久处不厌。

tā jì shì diē luò shí de shǒu jī shǒu hù zhě , yě shì jīng jiǔ nài yòng de péi bàn zhě , jì yào yǒu zhà jiàn zhī huān , gèng yīng gāi jiǔ chǔ bù yàn .

It not only protects your phone when it falls, but also serves as a durable companion—one that brings joy at first sight and remains just as appealing over time.

爱范儿Sep 2026

如果只是把智能手表当做一个“配件”,这些功能乍一看起来并没什么说服力。

rú guǒ zhī shì bǎ zhì néng shǒu biǎo dāng zuò yī gè pèi jiàn , zhè xiē gōng néng zhà yī kàn qǐ lái bìng méi shén me shuō fú lì .

If you view a smartwatch merely as an “accessory,” these features may not seem particularly compelling at first glance.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

截图放在一起乍一看,几乎分辨不出是不同的人。

jié tú fàng zài yī qǐ zhà yī kàn , jǐ hū fēn biàn bù chū shì bù tóng de rén .

At first glance, when you put the screenshots side by side, it’s almost impossible to tell that they’re different people.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

平安介绍,录制机器人的人声时会加入机器音效,让它乍一听像人声,细听又有机械质感。

píng ān jiè shào , lù zhì jī qì rén de rén shēng shí huì jiā rù jī qì yīn xiào , ràng tā zhà yī tīng xiàng rén shēng , xì tīng yòu yǒu jī xiè zhì gǎn .

Ping An explained that when recording a robot's voice, they add machine-generated sound effects so that it sounds like a human voice at first listen, but reveals a mechanical quality upon closer listening.

少数派Aug 2026

改编自同名晋江小说,这部乍看平平无奇的国产动画电影,凭借真挚的感情收获众多好评。

gǎi biān zì tóng míng jìn jiāng xiǎo shuō , zhè bù zhà kàn píng píng wú qí de guó chǎn dòng huà diàn yǐng , píng jiè zhēn zhì de gǎn qíng shōu huò zhòng duō hǎo píng .

Adapted from the Jinjiang novel of the same name, this Chinese animated film—which at first glance seems unremarkable—has garnered widespread praise for its heartfelt emotion.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 乍 (zhà) mean in Chinese?
乍 (zhà) primarily means "at first." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3271 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 乍 have?
乍 is written with 5 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 乍?
The radical associated with 乍 is 丿 (slash). This radical appears in many characters related to slash.
What are the components of 乍?
乍 is composed of: 丿 (structural), 下 (structural), 一 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸丿⿻下一 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 乍?
Common words with 乍 include: 初来乍到 (chū lái zhà dào, "to be a newcomer"); 乍得 (zhà dé, "Chad"); 新来乍到 (xīn lái zhà dào, "newly arrived (idiom)"); 一惊一乍 (yī jīng yī zhà, "frightened"); 乍现 (zhà xiàn, "to appear suddenly"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
Is 乍 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 乍 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 乍 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.