(zhèn): disposition of troops, wave, spate

(zhèn) is a Chinese character meaning “disposition of troops.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #788 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a formation 阝of soldiers 车. Its radical form (mound) appears in many related characters such as (, (specifier) that), (dōu, all), (yuàn, courtyard).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. disposition of troops
  2. wave
  3. spate

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA formation 阝of soldiers 车

Decomposition: ⿰阝车 (layout: left-right)

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

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
numeral-measureyī zhèna burst6
nounzhèn yǔshower (rain)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yī zhèn zia while
zhèn yínggroup of people
zhèn dì(military) position
zhèn ziperiod of time
zhèn wángto die in battle
shàng zhènto go into battle
duì zhèn(of armies) to face each other, ready for battle
线zhèn xiàna front (militant group)
zhèn róngtroop arrangement
jǔ zhènarray
dǎ tóu zhènto take the lead
zhèn tònglabor pains
zhèn fēnggust
zhù zhènto cheer
zhèn liè(computing) array (data structure)
64
Total compounds
23
As first character
45
As last character
31
As middle character

appears in 64 compound words: 23 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 31 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.

0.72539,198 co-occurrences
wáng
0.56039,948 co-occurrences
róng
0.52738,214 co-occurrences
duì
0.51659,400 co-occurrences
yíng
0.48919,020 co-occurrences
线xiàn
0.47629,052 co-occurrences
fēng
0.4159,468 co-occurrences
0.3912,808 co-occurrences
zhǎn
0.381783 co-occurrences
zhàn
0.37310,497 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

bǎi lóngménzhènHSK 6+

to chat; to gossip; to spin a yarn; to chew the rag

verb
chōngfēngxiànzhènHSK 7+

to charge and break enemy ranks; to fight valiantly

phrase
línzhènmóqiāngHSK 7+

to prepare at the last moment

phrase
línzhèntuōtáoHSK 6+

to irresponsibly flee in the face of danger

phrase
yǎn yuán zhèn róngHSK 5+

cast (of a movie etc); lineup of performers; troupe

phrase

Showing 5 of 6 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字由6笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

zhèn zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "阵" consists of six strokes and has a very ingenious structure.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

...美部署F-22 谈判前夕美伊加紧“排兵布

. . . měi bù shǔ F 2 2 tán pàn qián xī měi yī jiā jǐn pái bīng bù zhèn

... On the eve of the U.S. deployment of F-22 negotiations, the United States and Iran stepped up their "troop arrangement"

中時新聞網Feb 2026

蓝台中市长人选民众各有所好 杨营诉求“分工”思维

lán tái zhōng shì cháng rén xuǎn mín zhòng gè yǒu suǒ hǎo yáng zhèn yíng sù qiú fēn gōng sī wéi

The mayoral candidates of Lan Taichung have their own preferences, and the Yang camp appeals for "division of labor" thinking

中国军网Feb 2026

经典兵学丨“鸳鸯”对现代协同作战的启示

jīng diǎn bīng xué 丨 鸳 鸯 zhèn duì xiàn dài xié tóng zuò zhàn de qǐ shì

Classic military science丨The enlightenment of the "Mandarin Duck Formation" to modern coordinated operations

中時新聞網Feb 2026

...会论坛》从自卫权到制天权 中日低轨卫星叫(蔡炫)

. . . huì lùn tán cóng zì wèi quán dào zhì tiān quán zhōng rì dī guǐ wèi xīng jiào zhèn ( 蔡 xuàn )

... From the right of self-defense to the right to control the sky, China-Japan low-orbit satellites call the formation (Cai Xuan)

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

青壮亡、人口外逃 乌克兰沦“孤儿寡母之国”

qīng zhuàng zhèn wáng , rén kǒu wài táo wū kè lán 沦 gū ér guǎ mǔ zhī guó

Young and strong people died and people fled, and Ukraine became a "country of orphans and widows"

Tatoeba

詹姆士遇上了雨。

Zhān mǔ shì yù shàng le zhènyǔ.

James was caught in a shower.

Tatoeba

我的胃偶尔会痛。

Wǒ de wèi ǒu'ěr huì zhèntòng.

I have occasional pains in the stomach.

Tatoeba

非方矩的逆是一个危险的东西。

Fēi fāng jǔzhèn de nì zhèn shì yī gè wēixiǎn de dōngxi.

The inverse of a non-square matrix is a dangerous thing.

Tatoeba

我遇上了雨被淋得全身湿透。

Wǒ yùshàng le zhèn yǔ bèi lín de quánshēn shītòu.

I was caught in a shower and got drenched to the skin.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhèn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 阵 (zhèn) mean in Chinese?
阵 (zhèn) primarily means "disposition of troops." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #788 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 阵 have?
阵 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 阵?
The radical associated with 阵 is 阝 (mound). This radical appears in many characters related to mound.
What are the components of 阵?
阵 is composed of: 阝 (structural), 车 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰阝车 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 阵?
Common words with 阵 include: 一阵子 (yī zhèn zi, "a while"); 一阵 (yī zhèn, "a burst"); 阵营 (zhèn yíng, "group of people"); 阵地 (zhèn dì, "(military) position"); 阵子 (zhèn zi, "period of time"). There are over 64 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 阵 (zhèn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhèn: 贞 (chaste), 针 (needle), 侦 (to scout), 珍 (precious thing), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 阵 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 阵 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.