张 (zhāng): to open up, to spread, sheet of paper

张 (zhāng) is a Chinese character meaning “to open up.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 弓 (semantic) and 长 (phonetic). It ranks #318 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 张 bow. Its radical form 弓 (bow) appears in many related characters such as 弟 (dì, younger brother), 强 (qiáng, stubborn), 引 (yǐn, to draw (e.g. a bow)).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to open up
  2. to spread
  3. sheet of paper

Etymology & Origin

张

pictophoneticbow

Decomposition: ⿰弓长 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 张

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
紧张adjectivejǐn zhāngnervous4
夸张adjectivekuā zhāngto exaggerate6
主张verb/nounzhǔ zhāngto advocate6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
张开verbzhāng kāito open up
开张verbkāi zhāngto open a business
伸张verbshēn zhāngto uphold (e.g. justice or virtue)
虚张声势xū zhāng shēng shì(idiom) to bluff
扩张verbkuò zhāngexpansion
慌张adjectivehuāng zhāngflustered
张扬verbzhāng yángto display ostentatiously
纸张nounzhǐ zhāngpaper
自作主张zì zuò zhǔ zhāng(idiom) to act on one's own
嚣张adjectivexiāo zhāngrampant
声张verbshēng zhāngto make public
张力nounzhāng lìtension
张贴verbzhāng tiēto post (a notice)
张嘴verbzhāng zuǐto open one's mouth (to speak, esp. to make a request)
张望verbzhāng wàngto look around
102
Total compounds
76
As first character
19
As last character
5
As middle character

张 appears in 102 compound words: 76 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 5 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 张 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

扩kuò
0.57518,000 co-occurrences
辑jí
0.54216,190 co-occurrences
憋biē
0.53231 co-occurrences
紧jǐn
0.52612,809 co-occurrences
专zhuān
0.50220,314 co-occurrences
夸kuā
0.4872,138 co-occurrences
炜wěi
0.46120 co-occurrences
鹏péng
0.4461,712 co-occurrences
贴tiē
0.4431,942 co-occurrences
纸zhǐ
0.4433,174 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (25)

大张旗鼓dàzhāngqígǔHSK 6+

on a grand scale; in a big way; with great fanfare

phrase
大张声势dà zhāng shēng shìHSK 5+

to spread one's voice wide (idiom); wide publicity

phrase
单张汇票dān zhāng huì piàoHSK 5+

sola bill of exchange (international trade)

phrase
海底扩张hǎi dǐ kuò zhāngHSK 5+

seafloor spreading (geology)

phrase
慌里慌张huānglihuāngzhāngHSK 7+

flustered; in a panic

adjective
静脉曲张jìngmài qūzhāngHSK 7+

varicose vein

noun
明目张胆míngmùzhāngdǎnHSK 5+

brazenly; flagrantly

phrase
铺张浪费pūzhānglàngfèiHSK 6+

extravagance and waste; extravagant

phrase
七嘴八张qī zuǐ bā zhāngHSK 3+

see 七嘴八舌

phrase
气焰嚣张qì yàn xiāo zhāngHSK 7+

see 囂張氣焰|嚣张气焰

phrase
失张失智shī zhāng shī zhìHSK 5+

out of one's mind

phrase
虚张声势xū zhāng shēng shìHSK 5+

(idiom) to bluff; to bluster; to make an empty show of strength

phrase

Showing 12 of 25 idioms containing 张.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

张字在日常生活中使用频率中等。

zhāng zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ zhōng děng .

The character "张" is used with moderate frequency in daily life.

Swi SwissinfoFeb 2026

7张图表说明LGBTIQ在瑞士各方面的情况

7 zhāng tú biǎo shuō míng L G B T I Q zài ruì shì gè fāng miàn de qíng kuàng

7 charts illustrating LGBTIQ in Switzerland in all its aspects

TvbsFeb 2026

张琼姿餐厅卷入高金素梅涉贪案 昔“车内密会...

zhāng 琼 zī cān tīng juǎn rù gāo jīn sù méi shè tān àn xī chē nèi mì huì . . .

Zhang Qiongzi's restaurant was involved in Gao Jin Sumei's corruption case in the past, "secret meeting in the car...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

倾销争议 天声董事长张水圳曾硬杠美政府

qīng xiāo zhēng yì tiān shēng dǒng shì cháng zhāng shuǐ 圳 céng yìng gàng měi zhèng fǔ

Dumping controversy Tiansheng Chairman Zhang Shuizhen once slammed the US government

NewtalkFeb 2026

WBC练习赛张峻玮对韩职投2局 飙速155公里

W B C liàn xí sài zhāng jùn 玮 duì hán zhí tóu 2 jú biāo sù 1 5 5 gōng lǐ

WBC practice match Zhang Junwei pitched 2 innings against South Korea and soared 155 kilometers

百度新闻Feb 2026

联合国:收到伊朗来信 对地区紧张局势深表关切

lián gě guó : shōu dào yī lǎng lái xìn duì dì qū jǐn zhāng jú shì shēn biǎo guān qiē

United Nations: Received a letter from Iran expressing deep concern about regional tensions

Tatoeba

你可以移一移那张椅子吗?

Nǐ kěyǐ yí yī yí nà zhāng yǐzi ma?

Could you move the chair a bit?

Tatoeba

你去年写了多少张圣诞卡?

Nǐ qùnián xiě le duōshao zhāng Shèngdànkǎ?

How many Christmas cards did you write last year?

Tatoeba

床上有多少张毯子?

Chuáng shàng yǒu duōshao zhāng tǎnzi?

How many blankets are there on the bed?

Tatoeba

为什么汤姆很紧张?

Wèishénme Tāngmǔ hěn jǐnzhāng?

Why is Tom nervous?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 弓 (bow) component

弓 Radical Family — Characters sharing the bow radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 张 (zhāng) mean in Chinese?
张 (zhāng) primarily means "to open up." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #318 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 张 and 下?
张 (zhāng) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 张 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 张 have?
张 is written with 7 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 张?
The radical associated with 张 is 弓 (bow). This radical appears in many characters related to bow.
What are the components of 张?
张 is composed of: 弓 (semantic), 长 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰弓长 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 张?
Common words with 张 include: 紧张 (jǐn zhāng, "nervous"); 夸张 (kuā zhāng, "to exaggerate"); 张开 (zhāng kāi, "to open up"); 开张 (kāi zhāng, "to open a business"); 主张 (zhǔ zhāng, "to advocate"). There are over 102 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 张 (zhāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhāng: 帐 ((bound form) curtain), 账 (account), 章 (chapter), 掌 (palm of the hand), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 张 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 张 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 张 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.