(zhēn): precious thing, treasure, culinary delicacy

(zhēn) is a Chinese character meaning “precious thing.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic). It ranks #1306 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, jade. Its radical form (jade) appears in many related characters such as (wán, to play), (xiàn, to appear), (bān, team).

Native pronunciation
HSK 5Radical: jade9 strokesFrequency #1306 semantic

Definitions

  1. precious thing
  2. treasure
  3. culinary delicacy

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticjade

Decomposition: ⿰王⿱人彡 (layout: left-right)

Components:semantic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
adjectivezhēn guìprecious5
verbzhēn xīto treasure5
nounzhēn zhūpearl (,粒[li4])6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhēn àito cherish
zhēn bǎoa treasure
zhēn cánga collection of rare and valuable items
zhēn shìto place great importance on
zhēn zhū gǎngPearl Harbor (Hawaii)
zhēn pǐnvaluable object
xiù zhēnpocket-sized
zhēn xīrare
zhēn qírare
zhēn zhòngprecious
mí zú zhēn guìextremely precious
shān zhēn hǎi wèiexotic delicacies
wéi zhēnVirgin (company)
rú shǔ jiā zhēnlit. as if enumerating one's family valuables (idiom)
zhēn yìrare
54
Total compounds
50
As first character
24
As last character
26
As middle character

appears in 54 compound words: 50 as the first character, 24 as the last, and 26 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.

zhū
0.62643,794 co-occurrences
0.56911,689 co-occurrences
0.5549,577 co-occurrences
guì
0.50913,205 co-occurrences
zàng
0.47218,678 co-occurrences
sēn
0.46412 co-occurrences
bèn
0.4351,380 co-occurrences
bǎo
0.4226,054 co-occurrences
0.41612 co-occurrences
xiù
0.4153,858 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

mízúzhēnguìHSK 6+

extremely precious; valuable

phrase
qízhēnyìbǎoHSK 6+

extremely rare treasure

phrase
rú shǔ jiā zhēnHSK 5+

lit. as if enumerating one's family valuables (idiom); fig. to be very familiar with a matter

phrase
shānzhēnhǎicuòHSK 5+

exotic delicacies; (by extension) abundant food

phrase
shānzhēnhǎiwèiHSK 5+

exotic delicacies; (by extension) abundant food

phrase
zhēn qín qí shòuHSK 7+

rare animals and birds

phrase
bìzhǒuzìzhēnHSK 7+

to cherish something of little value simply because it is one's own

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

时间很贵,我们要好好利用每一分每一秒。

Shíjiān hěn zhēnguì, wǒmen yào hǎohao lìyòng měi yī fēn měi yī miǎo.

Time is precious; we must make good use of every minute and every second.

StheadlineFeb 2026

...珈裤时代”爆红—全网疯玩“热狗肠包X” 珠虾滑杨枝甘露乜都塞

. . . 珈 kù shí dài bào hóng — quán wǎng fēng wán rè gǒu cháng bāo X zhēn zhū xiā huá yáng zhī gān lù 乜 dōu sāi

... The era of coffee pants "became popular - the whole network is crazy to play "hot dog sausage bun X" pearl shrimp slippery poplar twig nectar is stuffed with everything

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

【联副文讯】联副/舒国治、朱国对谈:饮食书写,情感记忆

lián fù wén xùn lián fù shū guó zhì , zhū guó zhēn duì tán : yǐn shí shū xiě , qíng gǎn jì yì

【Joint Deputy News】Joint Deputy/Shu Guozhi and Zhu Guozhen Dialogue: Diet Writing, Emotional Memory

StheadlineFeb 2026

惜生命|秀茂坪顺利邨45岁妇堕楼 昏迷送...

zhēn xī shēng mìng xiù mào píng shùn lì 邨 4 5 suì fù duò lóu hūn mí sòng . . .

Cherish life|A 45-year-old woman fell from a building in Shunli Village, Sau Mau Ping, and was sent in a coma...

百度新闻Feb 2026

古镇烟火与家常味,每一家餐厅都是精选丨寻味青浦

gǔ zhèn yān huǒ yú jiā cháng zhēn wèi , měi yī jiā cān tīng dū shì jīng xuǎn 丨 xún wèi qīng pǔ

The best way to get the most out of your life is to go to a restaurant where you can enjoy the best of what you've got to offer, and you'll be able to do it all in one place.

Tatoeba

想要一个冰淇淋甜筒。

Zhēn xiǎngyào yī gè bīngqílín tiántǒng.

Jane wanted an ice cream cone.

Tatoeba

比苏珊更吸引人。

Zhēn bǐ Sūshān gèng xīyǐn rén.

Jane is more attractive than Susan.

Tatoeba

你圣诞节要什么,妮?

Nǐ Shèngdànjié yào shénme, zhēn nī?

What do you want for Christmas, Jenny?

Tatoeba

为什么去了车站?

Wèishénme zhēn qù le chēzhàn?

Why did Jane go to the station?

Tatoeba

唯一比无论什么资源都贵的是土地。

Wéiyī bǐ wúlùn shénme zīyuán dōu zhēnguì de shì tǔdì.

The one resource more precious than any other was land.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhēn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 珍 (zhēn) mean in Chinese?
珍 (zhēn) primarily means "precious thing." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1306 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 珍 and 衫?
珍 (zhēn) and 衫 (shān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 王 vs 衤 (same 彡 component).
How many strokes does 珍 have?
珍 is written with 9 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 珍?
The radical associated with 珍 is 王 (jade). This radical appears in many characters related to jade.
What are the components of 珍?
珍 is composed of: 王 (semantic), undefined (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰王⿱人彡 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 珍?
Common words with 珍 include: 珍贵 (zhēn guì, "precious"); 珍惜 (zhēn xī, "to treasure"); 珍珠 (zhēn zhū, "pearl (,粒[li4])"); 珍爱 (zhēn ài, "to cherish"); 珍宝 (zhēn bǎo, "a treasure"). There are over 54 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 珍 (zhēn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhēn: 贞 (chaste), 针 (needle), 侦 (to scout), 真 (really), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 珍 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 珍 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.