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

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

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

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

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticbow

Decomposition: ⿰弓长 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectivejǐn zhāngnervous4
adjectivekuā zhāngto exaggerate6
verb/nounzhǔ zhāngto advocate6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhāng kāito open up
kāi zhāngto open a business
shēn zhāngto uphold (e.g. justice or virtue)
kuò zhāngexpansion
huāng zhāngflustered
zhāng yángto display ostentatiously
zhǐ zhāngpaper
xiāo zhāngrampant
shēng zhāngto make public
zhāng lìtension
zhāng tiēto post (a notice)
zhāng zuǐto open one's mouth (to speak, esp. to make a request)
zhāng wàngto look around
zhāng kǒuto open one's mouth (to eat, speak etc)
zhāng bó lúnChamberlain (name)
100
Total compounds
78
As first character
18
As last character
4
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 78 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 4 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.

jǐn
0.58138,192 co-occurrences
kuò
0.57754,017 co-occurrences
0.55048,570 co-occurrences
zhuān
0.50960,942 co-occurrences
kuā
0.4806,311 co-occurrences
péng
0.4535,136 co-occurrences
tiē
0.4505,826 co-occurrences
yǐng
0.4493,528 co-occurrences
zhǐ
0.4469,540 co-occurrences
xiāo
0.442822 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (23)

dàzhāngqígǔHSK 6+

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

phrase
dà zhāng shēng shìHSK 5+

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

phrase
dān zhāng huì piàoHSK 5+

sola bill of exchange (international trade)

phrase
hǎi dǐ kuò zhāngHSK 5+

seafloor spreading (geology)

phrase
huānglihuāngzhāngHSK 7+

flustered; in a panic

adjective
jìngmài qūzhāngHSK 7+

varicose vein

noun
míngmùzhāngdǎnHSK 5+

brazenly; flagrantly

phrase
pūzhānglàngfèiHSK 6+

extravagance and waste; extravagant

phrase
qī zuǐ bā zhāngHSK 3+

see 七嘴八舌[qi1 zui3 ba1 she2]

phrase
qì yàn xiāo zhāngHSK 7+

see 囂張氣焰|嚣张气焰[xiao1 zhang1 qi4 yan4]

phrase
shī zhāng shī zhìHSK 5+

out of one's mind

phrase
zhāngguānlǐdàiHSK 5+

to confuse a person with someone else; to confuse one thing with another

phrase

Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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

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

床上有多少毯子?

Chuáng shàng yǒu duōshao zhāng tǎnzi?

How many blankets are there on the bed?

Tatoeba

为什么汤姆很紧

Wèishénme Tāngmǔ hěn jǐnzhāng?

Why is Tom nervous?

Character Family

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 闭?
张 (zhāng) and 闭 (bì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 张 (open) vs 闭 (close).
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 100 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), 彰 (clear), 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 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.