争 (zhēng): to strive for, to vie for, to argue or debate
争 (zhēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to strive for.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺈ (structural), 彐 (structural) and 亅 (structural). It ranks #344 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 争 simplified form of 爭, two hands 爪 and 彐 fighting over 亅. Its radical form 亅 (hook) appears in many related characters such as 了 (le, (completed action marker)), 事 (shì, matter), 予 (yǔ, (literary) to give).
Definitions
- to strive for
- to vie for
- to argue or debate
Etymology & Origin
ideographicSimplified form of 爭, two hands 爪 and 彐 fighting over 亅
Decomposition: ⿱⺈⿻彐亅 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 争 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 争
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 战争noun | zhàn zhēng | war | 6 |
| 竞争verb | jìng zhēng | to compete | 4 |
| 争取verb | zhēng qǔ | to fight for | 5 |
| 争吵verb | zhēng chǎo | to quarrel | 6 |
| 斗争verb/noun | dòu zhēng | a struggle | 6 |
| 争论verb | zhēng lùn | to argue | 6 |
| 争夺verb | zhēng duó | to fight over | 6 |
| 争议verb | zhēng yì | controversy | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 争霸verb | zhēng bà | to contend for hegemony |
| 争执verb | zhēng zhí | to dispute |
| 抗争verb | kàng zhēng | to resist |
| 争斗verb | zhēng dòu | to struggle |
| 争辩verb | zhēng biàn | a dispute |
| 竞争力noun | jìng zhēng lì | competitive strength |
| 竞争者 | jìng zhēng zhě | competitor |
| 争端noun | zhēng duān | dispute |
| 纷争verb | fēn zhēng | to dispute |
| 争气noun | zhēng qì | to work hard for sth |
| 争议性 | zhēng yì xìng | controversial |
| 争夺战 | zhēng duó zhàn | struggle |
| 力争verb | lì zhēng | to work hard for |
| 争分夺秒phrase | zhēng fēn duó miǎo | lit. fight minutes, snatch seconds (idiom) |
| 争先恐后phrase | zhēng xiān kǒng hòu | (idiom) to compete to be first |
争 appears in 100 compound words: 37 as the first character, 47 as the last, and 16 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 争 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (37)
contention of the Hundred Schools of Thought; to let a hundred schools of thought contend
the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895, conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea)
the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895, conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea)
Showing 12 of 37 idioms containing 争.
Example Sentences
争字在日常生活中使用频率中等。
zhēng zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ zhōng děng .
The character "争" has moderate frequency of use in daily life.
扩产也来不及!全球记忆体荒将成AI竞争关键瓶颈 又一矽谷大老发声示警
kuò chǎn yě lái bù jí ! quán qiú jì yì tǐ huāng jiāng chéng A I jìng zhēng guān jiàn píng jǐng yòu yī 矽 gǔ dà lǎo fā shēng shì jǐng
It's too late to expand production! The global memory shortage will become a key bottleneck in AI competition, and another Silicon Valley elder has issued a warning
横眉冷看:一场长时间的战争
héng méi lěng kàn : yī chǎng cháng shí jiān de zhàn zhēng
Horizontal eyebrows look coldly: a long war
“超级皖”美食争霸赛总决赛收官 豆腐发源地淮南夺冠
chāo jí 皖 měi shí zhēng bà sài zǒng jué sài shōu guān dòu fǔ fā yuán dì huái nán duó guàn
The finals of the "Super Anhui" Food Championship ended with Huainan, the birthplace of tofu, winning the championship
倾销争议 天声董事长张水圳曾硬杠美政府
qīng xiāo zhēng yì tiān shēng dǒng shì cháng zhāng shuǐ 圳 céng yìng gàng měi zhèng fǔ
Dumping controversy Tiansheng Chairman Zhang Shuizhen once slammed the US government
...院推翻川普关税 美策略专家:反增加中国竞争力
. . . yuàn tuī fān chuān pǔ guān shuì měi cè lüè zhuān jiā : fǎn zēng jiā zhōng guó jìng zhēng lì
... The U.S. strategy expert overturned Trump's tariffs: anti-increase China's competitiveness
你不觉得这个名字很讽刺吗，「神圣的战争」？
Nǐ bù juéde zhège míngzi hěn fěngcì ma,「 shénshèng de zhànzhēng 」?
Don't you think the name "The Sacred War" sounds a bit sarcastic?
你支持还是反对战争?
Nǐ zhīchí háishi fǎnduì zhànzhēng?
Are you for or against the war?
日本人放弃了战争。
Rìběnrén fàngqì le zhànzhēng.
The Japanese people have renounced war.
在这个城市，白人和黑人间的争端愈演愈烈。
Zài zhège chéngshì, báirén hé hēirén jiān de zhēngduān yù yǎn yù liè.
The conflict between blacks and whites in the city became worse.
Character Family
亅 Radical Family — Characters sharing the hook radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 争 (zhēng) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 争 have?
What is the radical of 争?
What are the components of 争?
What are common words containing 争?
What characters sound the same as 争 (zhēng)?
Is 争 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 争 with real-time feedback
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