振 (zhèn): to shake, to flap, to vibrate

振 (zhèn) is a Chinese character meaning “to shake.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 辰 (phonetic). It ranks #1138 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 振 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to shake
  2. to flap
  3. to vibrate

Etymology & Origin

振

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌辰 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
振作adjectivezhèn zuòto bestir oneself
核磁共振nounhé cí gòng zhènnuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
振奋adjectivezhèn fènto stir oneself up
振动verbzhèn dòngto vibrate
重振verbchóng zhènto revitalize
一蹶不振phraseyī jué bù zhènone stumble, unable to rise (idiom)
令人振奋lìng rén zhèn fèninspiring
振荡verbzhèn dàngvibration
共振verbgòng zhènresonance (physics)
为之一振wèi zhī yī zhènto be energized by it
振兴verbzhèn xīngto revive
磁共振cí gòng zhènmagnetic resonance
萎靡不振phrasewěi mǐ bù zhèndispirited and listless (idiom)
振荡器nounzhèn dàng qìoscillator
偏振光nounpiān zhèn guāngpolarization of light
57
Total compounds
26
As first character
32
As last character
42
As middle character

振 appears in 57 compound words: 26 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 42 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 振 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

荡dàng
0.5452,056 co-occurrences
谐xié
0.4961,078 co-occurrences
梁liáng
0.4614,624 co-occurrences
磁cí
0.4552,116 co-occurrences
幅fú
0.4532,796 co-occurrences
兴xīng
0.4454,451 co-occurrences
偏piān
0.4413,058 co-occurrences
三sān
0.43620,422 co-occurrences
奋fèn
0.429719 co-occurrences
宇yǔ
0.4052,902 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

核磁共振hécí gòngzhènHSK 7+

nuclear magnetic resonance

noun
稽古振今jī gǔ zhèn jīnHSK 7+

studying the old to promote the new (idiom)

phrase
三振出局sānzhèn chūjúHSK 7+

to strike out; three strikes and you're out

phrase
委靡不振wěi mǐ bù zhèn

variant of 萎靡不振

phrase
萎靡不振wěimǐbùzhèn

to be in low spirits; to be lethargic-looking; out of sorts

phrase
欲振乏力yù zhèn fá lìHSK 7+

to try to rouse oneself but lack the strength (idiom)

phrase
振臂一呼zhènbìyīhūHSK 7+

to raise one's arm and cry out to rally people

phrase
振振有词zhènzhènyǒucíHSK 7+

to speak plausibly and at length

phrase
振振有辞zhèn zhèn yǒu cíHSK 7+

variant of 振振有詞|振振有词

phrase
发聋振聩fā lóng zhèn kuìHSK 7+

lit. so loud that even the deaf can hear (idiom); rousing even the apathetic

phrase
一蹶不振yījuébùzhènHSK 7+

one tumbles and unable to speak at all; the subject flipped over after wobbling

phrase
振聋发聩zhènlóngfākuìHSK 7+

to rouse the deaf and awaken the unhearing; to awaken the deaf; to enlighten the benighted

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他振了一个电话,约朋友晚上一起吃饭。

tā zhèn le yī gě diàn huà , yāo péng yǒu wǎn shǎng yī qǐ chī fàn .

He made a phone call to arrange dinner with a friend that evening.

Investing 香港Feb 2026

英伟达财报未能提振整体晶片板块

yīng wěi dá cái bào wèi néng tí zhèn zhěng tǐ jīng piàn bǎn kuài

Nvidia's earnings report failed to boost the overall chip sector

EtnetFeb 2026

《日出而作》英伟达季绩及指引均振奋,长和系出售英配电商料落袋千亿

rì chū ér zuò yīng wěi dá jì jì jí zhǐ yǐn jūn zhèn fèn , cháng hé xì chū shòu yīng pèi diàn shāng liào luò dài qiān yì

Nvidia's quarterly results and guidance are exciting, and Changhe's sale of British distribution e-commerce is expected to pocket 100 billion

BastillepostFeb 2026

...五五开局之年 港沪大湾区策马扬鞭 互补共振

. . . wǔ wǔ kāi jú zhī nián gǎng hù dà wān qū cè mǎ yáng biān hù bǔ gòng zhèn

... In the first year of the May Five-Year Plan, the Hong Kong-Shanghai Greater Bay Area rode horses and whips complemented each other

TvbsFeb 2026

施振荣长期拥台积电!看好台湾农业世界强“超越...

shī zhèn róng cháng qī yōng tái jī diàn ! kàn hǎo tái wān nóng yè shì jiè qiáng chāo yuè . . .

Shi Zhenrong has long owned TSMC! Optimistic about Taiwan's agricultural world's strong "surpassing...

LtnFeb 2026

台积电冲2000元不是梦?施振荣看好股市笑揭“股票张数”

tái jī diàn chōng 2 0 0 0 yuán bù shì mèng ? shī zhèn róng kàn hǎo gǔ shì xiào jiē gǔ piào zhāng shǔ

TSMC rushing 2,000 yuan is not a dream? Shi Zhenrong is optimistic about the stock market and smiles at the "number of shares"

Tatoeba

台币上涨,造成台湾的出口贸易萎靡不振。

Táibì shàngzhǎng, zàochéng Táiwān de chūkǒu màoyì wěimǐbùzhèn.

The Taiwanese dollar appreciated, causing Taiwanese exports to slump.

Tatoeba

情况正在改善,所以振作起来!

Qíngkuàng zhèngzài gǎishàn, suǒyǐ zhènzuò qǐlai!

The situation is improving, so cheer up!

Tatoeba

昨天晚上没睡好,所以我今天精神不振。

Zuótiān wǎnshang méi shuì hǎo, suǒyǐ wǒ jīntiān jīngshén bù zhèn.

I didn't sleep well last night so I have little energy today.

Tatoeba

事业会很快重振。

Shìyè huì hěn kuài chóngzhèn.

Business will recover soon.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhèn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 振 (zhèn) mean in Chinese?
振 (zhèn) primarily means "to shake." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1138 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 振 and 晨?
振 (zhèn) and 晨 (chén) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 日 (same 辰 component).
How many strokes does 振 have?
振 is written with 10 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 振?
The radical associated with 振 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 振?
振 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 辰 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌辰 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 振?
Common words with 振 include: 振作 (zhèn zuò, "to bestir oneself"); 核磁共振 (hé cí gòng zhèn, "nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)"); 振奋 (zhèn fèn, "to stir oneself up"); 振动 (zhèn dòng, "to vibrate"); 重振 (chóng zhèn, "to revitalize"). There are over 57 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 振 (zhèn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhèn: 震 (to shake, to shock), 真 (really), 阵 (disposition of troops), 镇 (town, to suppress), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 振 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 振 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 振 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.