杖 (zhàng): a staff, a rod, cane
杖 (zhàng) is a Chinese character meaning “a staff.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 丈 (phonetic). It ranks #2356 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 杖 wood. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).
Definitions
- a staff
- a rod
- cane
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 杖 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 拐杖noun | guǎi zhàng | crutches |
| 手杖noun | shǒu zhàng | cane |
| 魔杖noun | mó zhàng | magic wand |
| 权杖noun | quán zhàng | scepter |
| 擀面杖noun | gǎn miàn zhàng | rolling pin |
| 杖头木偶 | zhàng tóu mù ǒu | zhangtou wooden rod puppetry |
| 登山杖noun | dēng shān zhàng | trekking pole |
| 法杖 | fǎ zhàng | magic staff |
| 明杖 | míng zhàng | white cane (used by the blind) |
| 杖责 | zhàng zé | (literary) to punish by beating with a rod |
| 铁杖 | tiě zhàng | steel staff |
| 刑杖 | xíng zhàng | rod used for flogging offenders |
| 杖刑 | zhàng xíng | beating with wooden staves (as corporal punishment) |
| 笞杖 | chī zhàng | a cudgel |
| 盲杖noun | máng zhàng | white cane (used by the blind) |
杖 appears in 18 compound words: 17 as the first character, 83 as the last, and 0 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 杖 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
爷爷在门前种了一棵杖苗，现在已经长得很高了。
yé yé zài mén qián zhǒng le yī kē zhàng miáo , xiàn zài yǐ jīng cháng dé hěn gāo le .
Grandpa planted a cane sapling by the door, and now it has grown very tall.
折叠轻量登山杖，留着越野比赛用的，很轻，但是耐用度还不知道，回头先找个山头拉练一下。
zhé dié qīng liàng dēng shān zhàng , liú zhe yuè yě bǐ sài yòng de , hěn qīng , dàn shì nài yòng dù hái bù zhī dào , huí tóu xiān zhǎo gè shān tóu lā liàn yī xià .
These are lightweight, collapsible hiking poles that I’m saving for trail races. They’re very light, but I don’t know how durable they are yet—I’ll head out to a mountain soon to put them through their paces.
叫了半天，一个拄着拐杖的年轻男生才出来，带我们上楼。
jiào le bàn tiān , yī gè zhǔ zhe guǎi zhàng de nián qīng nán shēng cái chū lái , dài wǒ men shàng lóu .
After calling out for quite a while, a young man with a cane finally came out and led us upstairs.
北角仁德大厦失火冒浓烟 多人疏散包括持拐杖长者
běi jiǎo rén dé dà xià shī huǒ mào nóng yān duō rén shū sàn bāo kuò chí guǎi zhàng cháng zhě
Fire and thick smoke at Ren De Building in North Point; many people evacuated, including an elderly person using a cane
...名餐点满额再送透明牌,还有草莓蛋糕、梦之杖掀回忆杀
. . . míng cān diǎn mǎn é zài sòng tòu míng pái , hái yǒu cǎo 莓 dàn gāo , mèng zhī zhàng xiān huí yì shā
...Order a certain amount of food and get a free transparent plaque, plus strawberry cake and "Dream Wand" to bring back nostalgic memories
油塘老翁疑用拐杖袭击白鸽惹街坊报案 警发现鸽尸 暂无人被...
yóu táng lǎo wēng yí yòng guǎi zhàng xí jī bái gē rě jiē fāng bào àn jǐng fā xiàn gē shī zàn wú rén bèi . . .
The old man in Yau Tong was suspected of attacking the white pigeon with a cane, causing neighbors to report the case, and the police found the pigeon's corpse, and no one was temporarily beaten...
我不知道把拐杖放哪去了，你有看到吗？
Wǒ bù zhīdào bǎ guǎizhàng fàng nǎ qù le, nǐ yǒu kàn dào ma?
I don't know where my crutches are. Have you seen them?
自从我弄断了两条腿，我就拄着拐杖走路了。
Zìcóng wǒ nòng duàn le liǎng tiáo tuǐ, wǒ jiù zhǔ zhe guǎizhàng zǒulù le.
I'm on crutches since I broke both my legs.
我的祖父要用拐杖才能走路。
Wǒ de zǔfù yào yòng guǎizhàng cáinéng zǒulù.
My grandfather cannot walk without a stick.
这个老人拄着一根拐杖走路。
Zhège lǎorén zhǔ zhe yī gēn guǎizhàng zǒu lù.
The old man walked with a stick.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 杖 (zhàng) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 杖 have?
What is the radical of 杖?
What are the components of 杖?
What are common words containing 杖?
What characters sound the same as 杖 (zhàng)?
Is 杖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 杖 with real-time feedback
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