臻 (zhēn): to arrive, to reach (esp. perfection), utmost

臻 (zhēn) is a Chinese character meaning “to arrive.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 至 (semantic) and 秦 (phonetic). It ranks #4396 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 臻 reach. Its radical form 至 (arrive) appears in many related characters such as 至 (zhì, to arrive), 致 (zhì, (bound form) fine).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to arrive
  2. to reach (esp. perfection)
  3. utmost

Etymology & Origin

臻

pictophoneticreach

Decomposition: ⿰至秦 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
臻于完善zhēn yú wán shànto attain perfection (idiom)
臻化境zhēn huà jìngto reach the pinnacle (of artistic skill)
臻于郅治zhēn yú zhì zhìto attain a state of perfect governance (idiom)
日臻rì zhēnto reach day after day for
并臻bìng zhēnto arrive simultaneously
臻至zhēn zhìto reach
饥馑荐臻phrasejī jǐn jiàn zhēnfamine repeats unceasingly (idiom, from Book of Songs)
7
Total compounds
57
As first character
43
As last character
0
As middle character

臻 appears in 7 compound words: 57 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

饥馑荐臻jījǐnjiànzhēn

famine occurring year after year

phrase

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·体育Oct 2026

男双赛场,张之臻/周意组合以总分2:1逆转德国组合施奈特尔/沃尔纳,晋级男双八强。

nán shuāng sài chǎng , zhāng zhī zhēn zhōu yì zǔ hé yǐ zǒng fēn 2 : 1 nì zhuǎn dé guó zǔ hé shī nài tè ěr wò ěr nà , jìn jí nán shuāng bā qiáng .

In the men's doubles competition, the pair of Zhang Zhizhen and Zhou Yi came from behind to defeat the German duo of Schneller and Werner 2–1 and advance to the quarterfinals.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

回忆4年前的自己,冯臻远难掩欣喜,图书馆浩如烟海的馆藏深深震撼了他。

huí yì 4 nián qián de zì jǐ , féng zhēn yuǎn nán yǎn xīn xǐ , tú shū guǎn hào rú yān hǎi de guǎn zàng shēn shēn zhèn hàn le tā .

Thinking back to himself four years ago, Feng Zhenyuan could hardly contain his delight; he was deeply moved by the library’s vast collection.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

以张景胤、江川、李咏臻为核心的阵容,如何在关键分上提升效率,是首要课题。

yǐ zhāng jǐng 胤 , jiāng chuān , lǐ yǒng zhēn wéi hé xīn de zhèn róng , rú hé zài guān jiàn fēn shàng tí shēng xiào lǜ , shì shǒu yào kè tí .

The primary challenge for the team—led by Zhang Jingyin, Jiang Chuan, and Li Yongzhen—is how to improve their efficiency on crucial points.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

据董臻介绍,作为良渚古城内城的重要门户,陆城门是整座都邑营建规制的实物缩影。

jù dǒng zhēn jiè shào , zuò wéi liáng zhǔ gǔ chéng nèi chéng de chóng yào mén hù , lù chéng mén shì zhěng zuò dōu yì yíng jiàn guī zhì de shí wù suō yǐng .

According to Dong Zhen, as an important gateway to the inner city of the Liangzhu Ancient City, the Land Gate serves as a tangible microcosm of the capital’s overall urban planning and construction system.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

刘昊 摄 蔡玉臻表示,八仙传说融合仙话意境与市井人情,是脍炙人口的山海传奇。

liú 昊 shè cài yù zhēn biǎo shì , bā xiān chuán shuō róng hé xiān huà yì jìng yǔ shì jǐng rén qíng , shì 脍 zhì rén kǒu de shān hǎi chuán qí .

Photo by Liu Hao. Cai Yuzhen noted that the legend of the Eight Immortals blends the poetic imagery of immortal tales with the warmth of everyday life, making it a widely beloved legend of the mountains and seas.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 至 (reach) component

至 Radical Family — Characters sharing the arrive radical

Related Characters

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 臻 (zhēn) mean in Chinese?
臻 (zhēn) primarily means "to arrive." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #4396 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 臻 have?
臻 is written with 16 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 臻?
The radical associated with 臻 is 至 (arrive). This radical appears in many characters related to arrive.
What are the components of 臻?
臻 is composed of: 至 (semantic), 秦 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰至秦 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 臻?
Common words with 臻 include: 臻于完善 (zhēn yú wán shàn, "to attain perfection (idiom)"); 臻化境 (zhēn huà jìng, "to reach the pinnacle (of artistic skill)"); 臻于郅治 (zhēn yú zhì zhì, "to attain a state of perfect governance (idiom)"); 日臻 (rì zhēn, "to reach day after day for"); 并臻 (bìng zhēn, "to arrive simultaneously"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
Is 臻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 臻 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 臻 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.