阵 (zhèn): disposition of troops, wave, spate

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

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. disposition of troops
  2. wave
  3. spate

Etymology & Origin

阵

ideographicA formation 阝of soldiers 车

Decomposition: ⿰阝车 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 阵

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
一阵numeral-measureyī zhèna burst6
阵雨nounzhèn yǔshower (rain)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
一阵子nounyī zhèn zia while
阵营nounzhèn yínggroup of people
阵地nounzhèn dì(military) position
阵子nounzhèn ziperiod of time
阵亡verbzhèn wángto die in battle
上阵verbshàng zhènto go into battle
对阵verbduì zhèn(of armies) to face each other, ready for battle
阵线nounzhèn xiàna front (militant group)
阵容nounzhèn róngtroop arrangement
矩阵nounjǔ zhèn(math.) matrix
打头阵verbdǎ tóu zhènto take the lead
阵痛nounzhèn tònglabor pains
阵风zhèn fēnggust
助阵verbzhù zhènto cheer
阵列nounzhèn lièarray
64
Total compounds
23
As first character
45
As last character
31
As middle character

阵 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 阵 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

矩jǔ
0.70113,089 co-occurrences
亡wáng
0.55213,316 co-occurrences
铸zhù
0.53613 co-occurrences
容róng
0.51912,738 co-occurrences
对duì
0.50819,800 co-occurrences
营yíng
0.4826,340 co-occurrences
线xiàn
0.4699,684 co-occurrences
牢láo
0.44914 co-occurrences
风fēng
0.4093,156 co-occurrences
挥huī
0.39412 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

摆龙门阵bǎi lóngménzhènHSK 6+

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

verb
冲锋陷阵chōngfēngxiànzhènHSK 7+

to charge and break enemy ranks; to fight valiantly

phrase
临阵磨枪línzhènmóqiāngHSK 7+

to prepare at the last moment

phrase
临阵脱逃línzhèntuōtáoHSK 6+

to irresponsibly flee in the face of danger

phrase
演员阵容yǎn yuán zhèn róngHSK 5+

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

phrase

Showing 5 of 6 idioms containing 阵.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

阵字由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“排兵布阵”

. . . 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 杨阵营诉求“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“鸳鸯阵”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 中日低轨卫星叫阵(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

青壮阵亡、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

詹姆士遇上了阵雨。

Zhān mǔ shì yù shàng le zhènyǔ.

James was caught in a shower.

Tatoeba

我的胃偶尔会阵痛。

Wǒ de wèi ǒu'ěr huì zhèntòng.

I have occasional pains in the stomach.

Tatoeba

非方矩阵的逆阵是一个危险的东西。

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

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

Tatoeba

我遇上了阵雨被淋得全身湿透。

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: 真 (really), 镇 (town, to suppress), 针 (needle), 震 (to shake, to shock), 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 阵 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.