(zhāng): clear, conspicuous, manifest

(zhāng) is a Chinese character meaning “clear.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2722 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, sunlight. Its radical form (bristle) appears in many related characters such as (yǐng, picture), (xíng, to appear), (cǎi, (bright) color).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. clear
  2. conspicuous
  3. manifest

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticsunlight

Decomposition: ⿰章彡 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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
biǎo zhāngto honor
xiāng dé yì zhāngto bring out the best in each other (idiom)
zhāng míng jiào zhùobvious
zhāng huà shìZhanghua or Changhua city in west Taiwan, capital of Changhua county
zhòng mù zhāo zhānglit. the masses are sharp-eyed (idiom)
è míng zhāo zhānginfamous
zhāng míngto show clearly
zhāng huà xiànZhanghua or Changhua County in west Taiwan
zhāng huàZhanghua or Changhua city and county in west Taiwan
zhāng shàn dàn èto distinguish good and evil (idiom)
zhāng wǔ xiànZhangwu county in Fuxin 阜新, Liaoning
zhāng xiǎnto put on display (sth abstract)
yù gài mí zhāngtrying to hide it makes it more conspicuous (idiom)
chòu míng zhāo zhāngnotorious for his misdeeds (idiom)
zhāng wǔZhangwu county in Fuxin 阜新, Liaoning
17
Total compounds
59
As first character
41
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 17 compound words: 59 as the first character, 41 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

huà
0.57294,515 co-occurrences
bīn
0.4933,522 co-occurrences
biǎo
0.48254,286 co-occurrences
xiǎn
0.4154,727 co-occurrences
鹿
0.3962,364 co-occurrences
zhǐ
0.3801,980 co-occurrences
huǎng
0.377672 co-occurrences
0.3452,154 co-occurrences
0.337594 co-occurrences
téng
0.3362,220 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

xiāngdéyìzhāngHSK 7+

to help and complement each other so both can hone their talents better

phrase
yùgàimízhāngHSK 7+

to attempt to cover up the truth but the truth becomes more apparent or further exposed

phrase
zhāngmíngjiàozhùHSK 7+

very obvious; very evident

phrase
chòu míng zhāo zhāngHSK 7+

notorious for his misdeeds (idiom); infamous

phrase
èmíngzhāozhāngHSK 7+

notorious, criminals doing all kinds of crimes and make their conducts well known

phrase
zhāng shàn dàn èHSK 7+

to distinguish good and evil (idiom); to uphold virtue and condemn evil; to praise good and expose vice

phrase
zhòng mù zhāo zhāngHSK 7+

lit. the masses are sharp-eyed (idiom); fig. one is subjected to the scrutiny of the general public

phrase
diē dàng zhāo zhāngHSK 7+

flowing (of prose); free

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè zhāng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "彰" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

中国军网Feb 2026

学习规划建议每日问答|怎样理解不断显澳门“一中心、一平台、一基地”作用

xué xí guī huá jiàn yì měi rì wèn dā zěn yàng lǐ jiě bù duàn zhāng xiǎn ào mén yī zhōng xīn , yī píng tái , yī jī dì zuò yòng

Daily Q&A on learning planning suggestions|How to understand and continuously highlight Macao's role as "one center, one platform, and one base"

中国军网Feb 2026

推动物质文明和精神文明相得益

tuī dòng wù zhì wén míng hé jīng shén wén míng xiāng dé yì zhāng

Promote material civilization and spiritual civilization to complement each other

LtnFeb 2026

激烈4轮PK决胜 化慈航宫年度总斗首出炉

jī liè 4 lún P K jué shèng zhāng huà cí háng gōng nián dù zǒng dǒu shǒu chū lú

Fierce 4 rounds of PK decisive Changhua Cihang Palace's annual general fight was released

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

化竹塘慈航宫总斗首之争 第三轮PK分胜负...

zhāng huà zhú táng cí háng gōng zǒng dǒu shǒu zhī zhēng dì sān lún P K fēn shèng fù . . .

Changhua Zhutang Cihang Palace general battle for the third round of PK points to win or lose...

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the bristle radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 彰 (zhāng) mean in Chinese?
彰 (zhāng) primarily means "clear." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2722 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 彰 and 商?
彰 (zhāng) and 商 (shāng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 彡 vs 口 (same 章 component).
How many strokes does 彰 have?
彰 is written with 14 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 彰?
The radical associated with 彰 is 彡 (bristle). This radical appears in many characters related to bristle.
What are the components of 彰?
彰 is composed of: 章 (phonetic), 彡 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰章彡 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 彰?
Common words with 彰 include: 表彰 (biǎo zhāng, "to honor"); 相得益彰 (xiāng dé yì zhāng, "to bring out the best in each other (idiom)"); 彰明较著 (zhāng míng jiào zhù, "obvious"); 彰化市 (zhāng huà shì, "Zhanghua or Changhua city in west Taiwan, capital of Changhua county"); 众目昭彰 (zhòng mù zhāo zhāng, "lit. the masses are sharp-eyed (idiom)"). There are over 17 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 彰 (zhāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhāng: 障 (to block), 张 (to open up), 章 (chapter), 涨 (to rise (of prices, rivers)), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 彰 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 彰 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.