睁 (zhēng): to open (one's eyes)

睁 (zhēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to open (one's eyes).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 目 (semantic) and 争 (phonetic). It ranks #1936 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 睁 eye. Its radical form 目 (eye) appears in many related characters such as 看 (kàn, to look, to see), 真 (zhēn, really), 着 (zhe, -ing, to wear).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to open (one's eyes)

Etymology & Origin

睁

pictophoneticeye

Decomposition: ⿰目争 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
眼睁睁adverbyǎn zhēng zhēngto stare blankly
睁眼瞎nounzhēng yǎn xiāan illiterate
睁一只眼闭一只眼phrasezhēng yī zhī yǎn bì yī zhī yǎnto turn a blind eye
睁一眼闭一眼phrasezhēng yī yǎn bì yī yǎnto turn a blind eye
睁只眼闭只眼zhēng zhī yǎn bì zhī yǎnto turn a blind eye
睁着眼睛说瞎话zhēng zhe yǎn jīng shuō xiā huà(idiom) to lie through one's teeth
目睁口呆mù zhēng kǒu dāistunned
睁眼说瞎话phrasezhēng yǎn shuō xiā huà(idiom) to lie through one's teeth
睁开zhēng kāito open (one's eyes)
睁眼verbzhēng yǎnto open one's eyes
10
Total compounds
80
As first character
0
As last character
20
As middle character

睁 appears in 10 compound words: 80 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 20 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 睁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

眼yǎn
0.579895 co-occurrences
睛jīng
0.571199 co-occurrences
瞎xiā
0.50122 co-occurrences
看kàn
0.461322 co-occurrences
圆yuán
0.43768 co-occurrences
着zhe
0.396257 co-occurrences
双shuāng
0.38476 co-occurrences
怒nù
0.37228 co-occurrences
只zhī
0.363132 co-occurrences
闭bì
0.35220 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

目睁口呆mù zhēng kǒu dāiHSK 6+

stunned; dumbstruck

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解睁字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè zhēng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "睁" (zēng) helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

你睁开眼睛,就要决定起床还是不起床,做还是不做。

nǐ zhēng kāi yǎn jīng , jiù yāo jué dìng qǐ chuáng hái shì bù qǐ chuáng , zuò hái shì bù zuò .

The moment you open your eyes, you have to decide whether to get out of bed or not, whether to do it or not.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

神面头戴羽冠,怒目圆睁,威严之姿令人屏息。

shén miàn tóu dài yǔ guàn , nù mù yuán zhēng , wēi yán zhī zī lìng rén bǐng xī .

The deity’s face is crowned with a feathered headdress; his eyes are wide open in fury, and his majestic presence is breathtaking.

少数派Jul 2026

但被早上那波旅行团一阵吵闹后实在是起不来,再睁眼时已是阳光大好。

dàn bèi zǎo shàng nà bō lǚ háng tuán yī zhèn chǎo nào hòu shí zài shì qǐ bù lái , zài zhēng yǎn shí yǐ shì yáng guāng dà hǎo .

But after being woken up by the noise from this morning’s tour group, I just couldn’t get up; by the time I opened my eyes again, the sun was already shining brightly.

TvbsFeb 2026

陈光复最新病况!家属曝“睁眼、对声音有反应” 昏迷指数也进步

chén guāng fù zuì xīn bìng kuàng ! jiā shǔ pù zhēng yǎn , duì shēng yīn yǒu fǎn yīng hūn mí zhǐ shǔ yě jìn bù

Chen Guangfu's latest condition! The family revealed that they "opened their eyes and responded to sounds" and the coma index also improved

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

陈光复能睁眼、有反应!家属:看见他的生命韧性

chén guāng fù néng zhēng yǎn , yǒu fǎn yīng ! jiā shǔ : kàn jiàn tā de shēng mìng rèn xìng

Chen Guangfu can open his eyes and react! Family: See the resilience of his life

Tatoeba

我感觉困得几乎不能睁开我的眼睛了。

Wǒ gǎnjué kùn de jīhū bù néng zhēngkāi wǒ de yǎnjing le.

I felt so sleepy that I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Tatoeba

刚出生的小鸡还没有睁开眼睛。

Gāng chūshēng de xiǎojī hái méiyǒu zhēngkāi yǎnjing.

The newborn chicks still have not opened their eyes.

Tatoeba

闭着你的眼睛直到我告诉你睁开为止。

Bìzhe nǐ de yǎnjing zhídào wǒ gàosu nǐ zhēngkāi wéizhǐ.

Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them.

Tatoeba

我现在能睁眼吗?

Wǒ xiànzài néng zhēngyǎn ma?

May I open my eyes now?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 目 (eye) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhēng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 睁 (zhēng) mean in Chinese?
睁 (zhēng) primarily means "to open (one's eyes)." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1936 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 睁 and 闭?
睁 (zhēng) and 闭 (bì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 睁 (open) vs 闭 (close).
How many strokes does 睁 have?
睁 is written with 11 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 睁?
The radical associated with 睁 is 目 (eye). This radical appears in many characters related to eye.
What are the components of 睁?
睁 is composed of: 目 (semantic), 争 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰目争 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 睁?
Common words with 睁 include: 眼睁睁 (yǎn zhēng zhēng, "to stare blankly"); 睁眼瞎 (zhēng yǎn xiā, "an illiterate"); 睁一只眼闭一只眼 (zhēng yī zhī yǎn bì yī zhī yǎn, "to turn a blind eye"); 睁一眼闭一眼 (zhēng yī yǎn bì yī yǎn, "to turn a blind eye"); 睁只眼闭只眼 (zhēng zhī yǎn bì zhī yǎn, "to turn a blind eye"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 睁 (zhēng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhēng: 筝 (zither (Chinese plucked string instrument)), 正 (straight), 政 (political), 证 (certificate, prove), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 睁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 睁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 睁 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.