渣 (zhā): slag (in mining or smelting), dregs

渣 (zhā) is a Chinese character meaning “slag (in mining or smelting).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 查 (phonetic). It ranks #2839 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 渣 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. slag (in mining or smelting)
  2. dregs

Etymology & Origin

渣

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵查 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
渣滓nounzhā zǐresidue
残渣nouncán zhāremainder
渣子zhā zidregs
煤渣nounméi zhāslack
矿渣nounkuàng zhāslag (mining)
废渣nounfèi zhāindustrial waste product
油渣nounyóu zhācrisp residue left after rendering animal fat
豆腐渣noundòu fu zhāokara (i.e. soy pulp, a by-product of making soymilk or tofu)
渣打银行zhā dǎ yín hángStandard Chartered Bank
土得掉渣tǔ de diào zhā(coll.) rustic
面包渣miàn bāo zhābreadcrumbs
体育渣tǐ yù zhāunathletic person
豆腐渣工程noundòu fu zhā gōng chéngjerry-built building project
人渣nounrén zhādregs of society
学渣nounxué zhā(coll.) unenthusiastic, mediocre student
27
Total compounds
15
As first character
70
As last character
15
As middle character

渣 appears in 27 compound words: 15 as the first character, 70 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 渣 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

甸diàn
0.530722 co-occurrences
残cán
0.468396 co-occurrences
煤méi
0.440264 co-occurrences
豆dòu
0.430256 co-occurrences
打dǎ
0.4271,754 co-occurrences
腐fǔ
0.419186 co-occurrences
炉lú
0.41488 co-occurrences
焊hàn
0.38940 co-occurrences
滤lǜ
0.38446 co-occurrences
炼liàn
0.38356 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

豆渣脑筋dòu zhā nǎo jīnHSK 7+

idiot; porridge head

phrase
土得掉渣tǔ de diào zhāHSK 7+

(coll.) rustic; uncouth

phrase
残渣余孽cánzhāyúnièHSK 7+

dregs of the old society

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的渣面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de zhā miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The morning surface of the muddy water shimmered, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

辉达进驻北士科!渣打看好高资产潜力 天母将设国际私人理财中...

huī dá jìn zhù běi shì kē ! zhā dǎ kàn hǎo gāo zī chǎn qián lì tiān mǔ jiāng shè guó jì sī rén lǐ cái zhōng . . .

Huida enters Beishike! Standard Chartered is optimistic about the potential of high assets, and Tianmu will set up international private wealth management...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

渣打今年指引乐观 宣布117亿回购 202...

zhā dǎ jīn nián zhǐ yǐn lè guàn xuān bù 1 1 7 yì huí gòu 2 0 2 . . .

Standard Chartered has optimistic guidance this year and announced a 11.7 billion buyback 202...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

渣打禤惠仪..宏观环境仍具不确定性 惟开局...

zhā dǎ 禤 huì yí . . hóng guàn huán jìng réng jù bù què dìng xìng 惟 kāi jú . . .

Standard Chartered Huen Hui Yi: The macro environment is still uncertain, but the beginning...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

《大行》花旗:渣打(02888.HK)上季基本税前利润逊...

dà háng huā qí : zhā dǎ ( 0 2 8 8 8 . H K ) shàng jì jī běn shuì qián lì rùn xùn . . .

Citigroup: Standard Chartered (02888.HK) last quarter's basic pre-tax profit was lower...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

《大行》摩通:渣打(02888.HK)2026财年ROT...

dà háng mó tōng : zhā dǎ ( 0 2 8 8 8 . H K ) 2 0 2 6 cái nián R O T . . .

"Daxing" JPMorgan: Standard Chartered (02888.HK) FY2026 ROT...

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 渣 (zhā) mean in Chinese?
渣 (zhā) primarily means "slag (in mining or smelting)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2839 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 渣 have?
渣 is written with 12 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 渣?
The radical associated with 渣 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 渣?
渣 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 查 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵查 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 渣?
Common words with 渣 include: 渣滓 (zhā zǐ, "residue"); 残渣 (cán zhā, "remainder"); 渣子 (zhā zi, "dregs"); 煤渣 (méi zhā, "slack"); 矿渣 (kuàng zhā, "slag (mining)"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 渣 (zhā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhā: 炸 (to fry, to explode), 扎 (to prick), 诈 (to cheat), 眨 (to blink), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 渣 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 渣 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 渣 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.