(zhá): gate, brake

(zhá) is a Chinese character meaning “gate, brake.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2865 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, gate. Its radical form (gate) appears in many related characters such as (mén, door, gate), (jiān, room, between), (shǎn, to flash, to dodge).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. gate, brake

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticgate

Decomposition: ⿵门甲 (layout: surround-from-top)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhá ménsluice gate
qì zhápneumatic brake
diàn zháelectric switch
zhá kǒuopen sluice gate
shuǐ zhásluice
tiào zhá(of a circuit breaker or switch) to trip
chē zhábrake (of a car, bicycle etc)
chuán zháa canal lock
qì dòng zhápneumatic brake
jìn shuǐ zháwater intake
xià zhálower sluice gate
zhá dào(computing) gateway (Tw)
gǎng zhá qūGangzha, a district of Nantong City 南通市[Nan2 tong1 Shi4], Jiangsu
shǒu zháhandbrake
zhá jīturnstile
22
Total compounds
27
As first character
59
As last character
14
As middle character

appears in 22 compound words: 27 as the first character, 59 as the last, and 14 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

xiè
0.4951,032 co-occurrences
0.47110,314 co-occurrences
jiǎn
0.4542,298 co-occurrences
lōu
0.44830 co-occurrences
0.446870 co-occurrences
chuán
0.4454,134 co-occurrences
mén
0.4414,698 co-occurrences
lán
0.434330 co-occurrences
jīng
0.4291,434 co-occurrences
xiè
0.425426 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

控制着河流的水位,防止洪水。

Shuǐzhá kòngzhì zhe héliú de shuǐwèi, fángzhǐ hóngshuǐ.

The sluice gate controls the river water level to prevent floods.

東方日報Mar 2026

【单T过关】梓忠:品德宝宝试点到即止

dān T guò guān 梓 zhōng : pǐn dé bǎo bǎo shì zhá diǎn dào jí zhǐ

[Single Win] Zi Zhong: Virtue Baby's trial run was brief

東方日報Mar 2026

嘉应高升试险胜 潘顿自制彩衣外套

jiā yīng gāo shēng shì zhá xiǎn shèng pān dùn zì zhì cǎi yī wài tào

Jia Ying Gao Sheng Narrowly Wins Trial Race; Poon Tung Designs His Own Color-Coordinated Jacket

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Mar 2026

复旦团队发现疼痛向负面情绪升级的“门”

fù dàn tuán duì fā xiàn téng tòng xiàng fù miàn qíng xù shēng jí de zhá mén

Fudan University team discovers the "gateway" through which pain escalates into negative emotions

東方日報Mar 2026

希斯:本身想球星试两个先复出 不过......

xī sī : běn shēn xiǎng qiú xīng shì liǎng gè zhá xiān fù chū bù guò . . . . . .

Heath: I was hoping the star player would try out both full-back positions before making his comeback, but...

Hk01.comMar 2026

台湾疯抢杜拜朱古力蛋糕登CNN 丧尸式钻狂奔抢购 网民轰丢架

tái wān fēng qiǎng dù bài zhū gǔ lì dàn gāo dēng C N N sāng shī shì zuān zhá kuáng bēn qiǎng gòu wǎng mín hōng diū jià

Taiwan's Rush for Dubai Chocolate Cake Makes CNN Headlines; Zombie-Like Crowds Dash Through Turnstiles to Snatch Up Stock; Netizens Slam the Disgraceful Behavior

Tatoeba

愚蠢骑着没有的单车。

Yúchǔn qí zhe méiyǒu zhá de dānchē.

Stupidity is riding a bike that doesn't have brakes.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhá

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 闸 (zhá) mean in Chinese?
闸 (zhá) primarily means "gate, brake." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2865 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 闸 and 鸭?
闸 (zhá) and 鸭 (yā) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 门 vs 鸟 (same 甲 component).
How many strokes does 闸 have?
闸 is written with 8 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 闸?
The radical associated with 闸 is 门 (gate). This radical appears in many characters related to gate.
What are the components of 闸?
闸 is composed of: 门 (semantic), 甲 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿵门甲 with a surround-from-top layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 闸?
Common words with 闸 include: 闸门 (zhá mén, "sluice gate"); 气闸 (qì zhá, "pneumatic brake"); 电闸 (diàn zhá, "electric switch"); 闸口 (zhá kǒu, "open sluice gate"); 水闸 (shuǐ zhá, "sluice"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 闸 (zhá)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhá: 扎 (to prick), 渣 (slag (in mining or smelting)), 眨 (to blink), 诈 (to cheat), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 闸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 闸 and the traditional form is 牐.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.