(zhē): to cover up (a shortcoming), to screen off, to hide

(zhē) is a Chinese character meaning “to cover up (a shortcoming).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2094 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, walk. Its radical form (walk) appears in many related characters such as (biān, side), (guò, to pass, past), (hái, still, return).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to cover up (a shortcoming)
  2. to screen off
  3. to hide

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶庶 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

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
zhē zhùto cover (up)
zhē yǎnto cover
zhē zhē yǎn yǎnto be secretive
zhē gàito hide
zhē bìto cover
zhē dǎngto shelter
zhē xiū bùloincloth
zhē yángto shield from the sun
páng zhē pǔPunjab state of India
zhē yīnto provide shade
zhē tiān bì rìlit. hiding the sky and covering the earth (idiom)
zhē yáng bǎnsun visor
zhē xiūto cover up one's embarrassment
yī shǒu zhē tiānlit. to hide the sky with one hand
西dōng yǎn xī zhēto cover up the truth on all sides (idiom)
25
Total compounds
72
As first character
4
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 25 compound words: 72 as the first character, 4 as the last, and 24 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.

0.73212,987 co-occurrences
dǎng
0.6334,194 co-occurrences
yǎn
0.5895,592 co-occurrences
páng
0.5569,342 co-occurrences
zhào
0.5282,772 co-occurrences
lián
0.464246 co-occurrences
0.4619,852 co-occurrences
péng
0.4581,062 co-occurrences
gài
0.4572,748 co-occurrences
xiū
0.449732 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

西dōng yǎn xī zhēHSK 7+

to cover up the truth on all sides (idiom)

phrase
kǒuwúzhēlánHSK 7+

to have no misgivings or control when one speaks; to shoot one's mouth off

phrase
yīshǒuzhētiānHSK 7+

to hide the truth (from the public or masses)

phrase
zhētiānbìrìHSK 7+

extremely strong and vast

phrase
zhēzhēyǎnyǎnHSK 7+

to be secretive; to attempt to cover something up or hide away

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

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

Understanding the origins of the practice of covering characters helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

Ign中国Mar 2026

电影《火眼》预告

diàn yǐng huǒ zhē yǎn yù gào

Trailer for the movie *Fire Blinds the Eyes*

Hk01.comMar 2026

...径起点Start变“Strat” 康文署盖称“危险/待修”

. . . jìng qǐ diǎn S t a r t biàn S t r a t kāng wén shǔ zhē gài chèn wēi xiǎn dài xiū

...The word "Start" at the trailhead has been changed to "Strat"; the Leisure and Cultural Services Department has covered it up, citing "dangerous/under repair"

東方日報Mar 2026

【东方日报世界视线】特朗普胜利谎言 难掩陷困真相

dōng fāng rì bào shì jiè shì xiàn tè lǎng pǔ shèng lì huǎng yán nán zhē yǎn xiàn kùn zhēn xiāng

[Oriental Daily: Global Perspective] Trump’s Lies of Victory Cannot Hide the Truth of His Plight

東方日報Mar 2026

世界视线:特朗普胜利谎言 难掩陷困真相

shì jiè shì xiàn : tè lǎng pǔ shèng lì huǎng yán nán zhē yǎn xiàn kùn zhēn xiāng

World View: Trump’s Victory Lies Cannot Hide the Truth of His Plight

Hk01.comMar 2026

...美以“普林节”前夕袭伊:宗教宿命论与政治羞布

. . . měi yǐ pǔ lín jié qián xī xí yī : zōng jiào sù mìng lùn yǔ zhèng zhì zhē xiū bù

...U.S. Strikes Iran on the Eve of "Purim": Religious Determinism and a Political Fig Leaf

Tatoeba

巨大的柱子住了视线,让人看不到湖。

Jùdà de zhùzi zhēzhù le shìxiàn, ràng rén kàn bù dào hú.

A large pillar obstructs the view of the lake.

Tatoeba

在云的蔽下无法见到月亮。

Zài yún de zhēbì xià wúfǎ jiàndào yuèliang.

The moon is invisible behind the clouds.

Tatoeba

当你在阳光下的时候,住你的头。

Dāng nǐ zài yángguāng xià de shíhou, zhēzhù nǐ de tóu.

Cover your head when you are in the sun.

Tatoeba

应该为这些花挡风雨。

Yīnggāi wèi zhèxiē huā zhēdǎng fēngyǔ.

These flowers should be sheltered from the rain.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhē

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 遮 (zhē) mean in Chinese?
遮 (zhē) primarily means "to cover up (a shortcoming)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2094 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 遮 and 下?
遮 (zhē) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 遮 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 遮 have?
遮 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 遮?
The radical associated with 遮 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 遮?
遮 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 庶 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶庶 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 遮?
Common words with 遮 include: 遮住 (zhē zhù, "to cover (up)"); 遮掩 (zhē yǎn, "to cover"); 遮遮掩掩 (zhē zhē yǎn yǎn, "to be secretive"); 遮盖 (zhē gài, "to hide"); 遮蔽 (zhē bì, "to cover"). There are over 25 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 遮 (zhē)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhē: 哲 (wise), 辙 (rut), 者 ((after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...), 这 (this), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 遮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 遮 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.