(zhěng): (bound form) whole, complete, entire, (before a measure word) whole, (before or after number + measure word) exactly, (bound form) in good order, tidy, neat, (bound form) to put in order, to straighten

(zhěng) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) whole.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #416 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, order. Its radical form (rap) appears in many related characters such as (fàng, to put, to release), (jiào, (bound form) to teach), (shōu, to receive).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) whole
  2. complete
  3. entire
  4. (before a measure word) whole
  5. (before or after number + measure word) exactly
  6. (bound form) in good order
  7. tidy
  8. neat
  9. (bound form) to put in order
  10. to straighten

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticorder

Decomposition: ⿱敕正 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

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

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
adjectivezhěng gèwhole4
verbzhěng lǐto arrange4
adverbzhěng zhěngwhole5
adjectivewán zhěngcomplete5
verbtiáo zhěngto adjust5
nounzhěng tǐwhole entity5
adjectivezhěng qíorderly5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhěng tiānall day long
zhěng xíngshaping
zhěng róngplastic surgery
zhěng yèthe whole night
zhěng jiéneatly
zhěng rìall day long
zhěng xiūto repair
zhěng héto conform
zhěng tàoentire set
xiū zhěngto spruce up
zhěng dùnto tidy up
zhěng zhuāng dài fāto get ready (for a journey)
píng zhěngsmooth
wán zhěng xìngintegrity
chóng zhěngto restructure
88
Total compounds
64
As first character
22
As last character
15
As middle character

appears in 88 compound words: 64 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 15 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.

diào
0.631181,950 co-occurrences
liàn
0.62898 co-occurrences
wán
0.610238,878 co-occurrences
fǎn
0.518107 co-occurrences
cái
0.502102 co-occurrences
0.493102 co-occurrences
0.489195,384 co-occurrences
0.48625 co-occurrences
0.47499,630 co-occurrences
0.438134,262 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

huàzhěngwéilíngHSK 4+

to break up the whole into parts

verb
xīnlǜ bùzhěngHSK 4+

Alternative name for 心律不齊/心律不齐 (xīnlǜ bùqí, “arrhythmia”).

noun
zhěng nián lěi yuèHSK 4+

month after month, year after year; year in, year out

phrase
zhěngqíhuàyīHSK 5+

uniform; in unison

phrase
zhěngzhěngqíqíHSK 5+

neat and tidy; immaculate

adjective
zhěngzhuāngdàifāHSK 4+

to be fully equipped and ready to set off

phrase
chóngzhěngqígǔHSK 6+

to rally one's forces (after a defeat); to begin all over again

phrase
hàozhěngyǐxiáHSK 4+

remain calm and composed while handling pressing affairs; take things easy

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

个团队齐心协力,终于完成了任务。

Zhěng gè tuánduì qíxīn xiélì, zhōngyú wánchéng le rènwu.

The whole team worked together and finally completed the task.

風傳媒Feb 2026

...市長初選,李四川合體拉抬他?被問羨慕新北合嗎,江啟臣曝內心願望

. . . shì 長 chū 選 , lǐ sì chuān gě 體 lā tái tā ? bèi 問 羨 mù xīn běi zhěng gě 嗎 , jiāng 啟 chén pù 內 xīn 願 wàng

...Mayoral primary: Is Li Sichuan teaming up to boost his chances? When asked if he envies New Taipei's unity, Jiang Qichen reveals his inner wish.

TvbsFeb 2026

初七開工日!拿到紅包「1動作」旺年 2吉時祭拜最招財

chū qī 開 gōng rì ! ná dào 紅 bāo 動 zuò wàng zhěng nián jí 時 jì bài zuì zhāo 財

First working day of the new year! One simple action when receiving red envelopes brings good fortune all year long. Two auspicious times for worshiping the gods attract the most wealth.

Am730Feb 2026

...裇衫賣8884港元嚇親人 網民笑:阿媽都過一件|網上熱話

. . . 裇 shān 賣 gǎng yuán 嚇 親 rén 網 mín xiào ā 媽 dōu zhěng 過 yī jiàn 網 shàng 熱 話

... Shirt sold for HK$8,884 to scare relatives - Online

Cool3cFeb 2026

...中斷疑因 AI 代理工具 Kiro 誤刪個環境

. . . zhōng 斷 yí yīn dài lǐ gōng jù 誤 刪 zhěng 個 環 jìng

... Interruptions suspected due to AI agent Kiro mistakenly deleting the entire environment

百度新闻Feb 2026

小床铺我理,合作互助乐成长

xiǎo chuáng pù wǒ zhěng lǐ , gě zuò hù zhù lè chéng cháng

I make my own bed, cooperate and help each other to grow up.

Tatoeba

个国家被大雪覆盖了。

Zhěng gè guójiā bèi dà xuě fùgài le.

The whole country was covered in snow.

Tatoeba

个小区对这个消息很惊讶。

Zhěnggè xiǎoqū duì zhège xiāoxi hěn jīngyà.

The whole neighborhood was surprised at the news.

Tatoeba

我们成了个村庄的笑柄。

Wǒmen chéngle zhěnggè cūnzhuāng de xiàobǐng.

We've become a mockery to the whole village.

Tatoeba

他把足踝扭伤了,一个月不能走路。

Tā bǎ zúhuái niǔshāng le, zhěngzhěng yī gè yuè bù néng zǒulù.

A sprained ankle disabled him from walking for a month.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhěng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 整 (zhěng) mean in Chinese?
整 (zhěng) primarily means "(bound form) whole." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #416 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 整 and 坏?
整 (zhěng) and 坏 (huài) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 整 (good) vs 坏 (bad).
How many strokes does 整 have?
整 is written with 15 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 整?
The radical associated with 整 is 攵 (rap). This radical appears in many characters related to rap.
What are the components of 整?
整 is composed of: 敕 (semantic), 正 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱敕正 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 整?
Common words with 整 include: 整个 (zhěng gè, "whole"); 整天 (zhěng tiān, "all day long"); 整理 (zhěng lǐ, "to arrange"); 整整 (zhěng zhěng, "whole"); 完整 (wán zhěng, "complete"). There are over 88 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 整 (zhěng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhěng: 征 (journey), 政 (political), 症 (symptom), 争 (to strive for), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 整 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 整 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.