眨 (zhǎ): to blink
眨 (zhǎ) is a Chinese character meaning “to blink.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 目 (structural) and 乏 (structural). It ranks #2301 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 眨 two eyes, one open 目 and one shut 乏. Its radical form 目 (eye) appears in many related characters such as 看 (kàn, to look, to see), 真 (zhēn, really), 着 (zhe, -ing, to wear).
Definitions
- to blink
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTwo eyes, one open 目 and one shut 乏
Decomposition: ⿰目乏 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 眨 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 眨眼 | zhǎ yǎn | to blink |
| 杀人不眨眼 | shā rén bù zhǎ yǎn | to murder without blinking an eye (idiom) |
| 眨巴 | zhǎ ba | to blink |
| 一眨眼 | yī zhǎ yǎn | in a wink |
| 眼眨毛 | yǎn zhǎ máo | (dialect) eyelashes |
| 眨眼睛 | zhǎ yǎn jīng | wink |
眨 appears in 6 compound words: 50 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 50 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 眨 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
他眨了眨眼睛，似乎在想什么事情。
Tā zhǎ le zhǎ yǎnjing, sìhū zài xiǎng shénme shìqing.
He blinked his eyes, seemingly thinking about something.
人平均一分钟眨几次眼睛？
Rén píngjūn yī fēnzhōng zhǎ jǐcì yǎnjing?
How many times a minute does the average person blink?
它发生在一眨眼之间。
Tā fāshēng zài yīzhǎyǎn zhījiān.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
消防员一眨眼的功夫就把火给灭了。
Xiāofángyuán yīzhǎyǎn de gōngfu jiù bǎ huǒ gěi miè le.
The firefighters put out the fire in the blink of an eye.
女人的思维很有跳跃性：从仰慕到爱慕，从爱慕到结婚都是一眨眼间的事。
Nǚrén de sīwéi hěn yǒu tiàoyuè xìng: cóng yǎngmù dào àimù, cóng àimù dào jiéhūn dōu shì yīzhǎyǎn jiān de shì.
A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 眨 (zhǎ) mean in Chinese?
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What characters sound the same as 眨 (zhǎ)?
Is 眨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 眨 with real-time feedback
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