桢 (zhēn): (old) privet (genus Ligustrum)

桢 (zhēn) is a Chinese character meaning “(old) privet (genus ligustrum).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 贞 (phonetic). It ranks #5631 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 桢 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 木 (mù, wood/tree), 林 (lín, forest, woods), 森 (sēn, forest (dense)).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 木 tree10 strokesFrequency #5631木 semantic贞 phonetic

Definitions

  1. (old) privet (genus Ligustrum)

Etymology & Origin

桢

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木贞 (layout: left-right)

Components:木semantic贞phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
竺可桢zhú kě zhēnZhu Kezhen (1890-1974), Chinese metereologist and geologist
沈葆桢shěn bǎo zhēnShen Baozhen (1820-1879), Qing Minister of the Navy, founded Fuzhou Naval College 船政學堂|船政学堂...
2
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

桢 appears in 2 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

秋风起，桢叶变黄，铺满了林间小路。

qiū fēng qǐ , zhēn xié biàn huáng , pù mǎn le lín jiān xiǎo lù .

As the autumn wind blows, the leaves turn yellow and carpet the forest paths.

IT之家Oct 2026

总统府青瓦台首席发言人姜由桢发布上述消息。

zǒng tǒng fǔ qīng wǎ tái shǒu xí fā yán rén jiāng yóu zhēn fā bù shàng shù xiāo xī .

Kang Yu-jeong, chief spokesperson for the Blue House, announced the news.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

中新社 记者 杨英琦 摄 泰国博主马惠桢用“历史、趣味、独特”三个词形容此行。

zhōng xīn shè jì zhě yáng yīng qí shè tài guó bó zhǔ mǎ huì zhēn yòng lì shǐ , qù wèi , dú tè sān gè cí xíng róng cǐ háng .

Photo by Yang Yingqi, China News Service. Thai blogger Ma Huizhen described the trip using three words: “history, fun, and uniqueness.”

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

在雷山县，杨树桢的故事是另一种轨迹。

zài léi shān xiàn , yáng shù zhēn de gù shì shì lìng yī zhǒng guǐ jì .

In Leishan County, Yang Shuzhen’s story follows a different path.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

样yàng根gēn格gé权quán极jí标biāo案àn校xiào构gòu模mó

Related Characters

木mù林lín森sēn树shù机jī杯bēi松sōng李lǐ枝zhī根gēn

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhēn

侦zhēn帧zhēn祯zhēn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 桢 (zhēn) mean in Chinese?
桢 (zhēn) primarily means "(old) privet (genus ligustrum)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #5631 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 桢 have?
桢 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 桢?
The radical associated with 桢 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 桢?
桢 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 贞 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木贞 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 桢?
Common words with 桢 include: 竺可桢 (zhú kě zhēn, "Zhu Kezhen (1890-1974), Chinese metereologist and geologist"); 沈葆桢 (shěn bǎo zhēn, "Shen Baozhen (1820-1879), Qing Minister of the Navy, founded Fuzhou Naval College 船政學堂|船政学堂..."). There are over 2 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 桢 (zhēn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhēn: 侦 (to scout), 帧 (frame), 祯 (auspicious). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 桢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 桢 and the traditional form is 楨.

Practice writing 桢 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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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.