(zhēn): chaste

(zhēn) is a Chinese character meaning “chaste.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2296 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. chaste

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
zhēn jiéchastity
zhōng zhēnloyal and dependable
zhēn cāo(usually of women) chastity
zhēn déJeanne d'Arc (1412-1431), French heroine and liberator, executed as a witch by the Burgundians and English
nǚ zhēnprivet (genus Ligustrum)
tóng zhēnvirginity
zhēn jiéchastity
zhōng zhēn bù yúunswerving in one's loyalty (idiom)
zhēn lièready to die to preserve one's chastity
jiān zhēnfirm
ān zhēnAntei (Japanese reign name, 1227-1229)
jiān zhēn bù yúunyielding integrity (idiom)
shèng nǚ zhēn déJoan of Arc (1412-1431), French heroine and liberator, executed as a witch by the Burgundians and English
sān zhēn jiǔ liè(of a widow) faithful to the death to her husband's memory
yǒng zhēn gé xīnYongzhen Reform, Tang dynasty failed reform movement of 805 led by Wang Shuwen 王叔文[Wang2 Shu1 wen2]
24
Total compounds
42
As first character
25
As last character
33
As middle character

appears in 24 compound words: 42 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 33 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.

guàn
0.56714,766 co-occurrences
zhì
0.56214 co-occurrences
mào
0.4852,958 co-occurrences
jié
0.4741,236 co-occurrences
huàn
0.454600 co-occurrences
yuán
0.42611,502 co-occurrences
zhōng
0.4092,316 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.4091,362 co-occurrences
0.4005,662 co-occurrences
liú
0.3942,022 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

jiānzhēnbùqūHSK 7+

faithful and unyielding

phrase
sān zhēn jiǔ lièHSK 7+

(of a widow) faithful to the death to her husband's memory

phrase
Shèngnǚ ZhēndéHSK 7+

Joan of Arc

zhēn jié pái fāngHSK 7+

memorial arch in honor of a chaste widow

phrase
zhōngzhēnbùyúHSK 7+

to be steadfastly faithful

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

洁是中华民族的传统美德。

Zhēnjié shì Zhōnghuá mínzú de chuántǒng měidé.

Chastity is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation.

NewsFeb 2026

不认李秀是立委 卓揆遭批藐视立法权

bù rèn lǐ zhēn xiù shì lì wěi zhuó 揆 zāo pī miǎo shì lì fǎ quán

Not recognizing Li Zhenxiu as a legislator Zhuo Kui was criticized for contempt of legislative power

NewsFeb 2026

圆梦!王治赠福冈软银鹰外套 赖清德兴奋喊:把我签...

yuán mèng ! wáng zhēn zhì zèng fú gāng ruǎn yín yīng wài tào lài qīng dé xīng fèn hǎn bǎ wǒ qiān . . .

Dream come true! Wang Zhenzhi gave Fukuoka SoftBank Eagle jacket Lai Qingde shouted excitedly: Sign me...

NewsFeb 2026

经典赛/赖清德颁“一等景星勋章” 王治:这次台湾队是历年最强

jīng diǎn sài lài qīng dé bān yī děng jǐng xīng xūn zhāng wáng zhēn zhì zhè cì tái wān duì shì lì nián zuì qiáng

Classic/Lai Qingde awarded the "First Class Jingxing Medal" Wang Zhenzhi: This time the Taiwan team is the strongest in history

NewsFeb 2026

治赠福冈软银鹰外套 赖总统笑:是不是要把...

wáng zhēn zhì zèng fú gāng ruǎn yín yīng wài tào lài zǒng tǒng xiào shì bù shì yāo bǎ . . .

Wang Zhenji gave Fukuoka SoftBank Eagle jacket President Lai smiled: Is it going to be...

NewsFeb 2026

世界棒球经典赛将开打 王治站台为中华队加油

shì jiè bàng qiú jīng diǎn sài jiāng kāi dǎ wáng zhēn zhì zhàn tái wéi zhōng huá duì jiā yóu

The World Baseball Classic will start Wang Zhenzhi stands on the platform to cheer for the Chinese team

Tatoeba

佐佐木子死于1955年10月25日。

Zuǒzuǒmù zhēn zǐ sǐ yú 1955 nián 10 yuè 25 rì.

Sadako Sasaki died on October 25, 1955.

Tatoeba

子对着他们微笑。

Zhēn zǐ duì zhe tāmen wēixiào.

Sadako smiled at them.

Tatoeba

守宫砂是中国古代用来验证女人操的方法.

Shǒugōng shā shì Zhōngguó gǔdài yònglái yànzhèng nǚrén zhēncāo de fāngfǎ.

Shougongsha is an old Chinese technique to test a woman's virginity.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhēn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 贞 (zhēn) mean in Chinese?
贞 (zhēn) primarily means "chaste." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2296 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 贞 have?
贞 is written with 6 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 贞?
The radical associated with 贞 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are the components of 贞?
贞 is composed of: ⺊ (structural), 贝 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⺊贝 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 贞?
Common words with 贞 include: 贞洁 (zhēn jié, "chastity"); 忠贞 (zhōng zhēn, "loyal and dependable"); 贞操 (zhēn cāo, "(usually of women) chastity"); 贞德 (zhēn dé, "Jeanne d'Arc (1412-1431), French heroine and liberator, executed as a witch by the Burgundians and English"); 女贞 (nǚ zhēn, "privet (genus Ligustrum)"). There are over 24 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 贞 (zhēn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhēn: 针 (needle), 侦 (to scout), 珍 (precious thing), 真 (really), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 贞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 贞 and the traditional form is 貞.

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.