(zhèng): certificate, prove

(zhèng) is a Chinese character meaning “certificate, prove.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #373 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, to speak 讠 the truth 正; 正 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (speech) appears in many related characters such as (rèn, to recognize, to admit), (, to remember, to record), (shí, to know, knowledge).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. certificate, prove

Etymology & Origin

ideographicTo speak 讠 the truth 正; 正 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰讠正 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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
verb/nounbǎo zhèngguarantee4
verb/nounzhèng míngproof4
nounzhèng jùevidence5
verbzhèng shíto confirm (sth to be true)6
nounshēn fèn zhèngidentity card4
nounzhèng jiàncertificate4
verb/nounqiān zhèngvisa4
nounzhèng shūcredentials5
verbyàn zhèngto inspect and verify6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhèng rénwitness
zuò zhèngto bear witness
zhèng cítestimony
jiàn zhèngto be witness to
zhèng wùexhibit (law)
wù zhèngmaterial evidence
zhèng quànnegotiable security (financial)
wěi zhèngperjury
rèn zhèngto authenticate
qǔ zhèngto collect evidence
zhèng yántestimony
chá zhèngto check
tiě zhèngironclad evidence
jiàn zhèng réneyewitness (to an incident)
jià shǐ zhèngdriver's license
100
Total compounds
17
As first character
74
As last character
9
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 17 as the first character, 74 as the last, and 9 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.

quàn
0.66147,769 co-occurrences
0.58898,604 co-occurrences
qiān
0.58343,017 co-occurrences
yàn
0.56342,198 co-occurrences
míng
0.553163,487 co-occurrences
shí
0.53476,160 co-occurrences
rèn
0.51549,506 co-occurrences
tīng
0.48011,190 co-occurrences
záo
0.4752,352 co-occurrences
bǎo
0.47063,456 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

bìyè zhèngshūHSK 4+

diploma; certificate of graduation

noun
jiànjiē zhèngjùHSK 4+

circumstantial evidence

noun
rù jìng qiān zhèngHSK 4+

entry visa

phrase
xúnhuán lùnzhèngHSK 6+

circular argument

noun
yǒujià zhèngquànHSK 6+

marketable security; negotiable security

noun
zhèng quàn shì chǎngHSK 6+

financial market

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

入职时需要提供身份和学历明的复印件。

Rùzhí shí xūyào tígōng shēnfènzhèng hé xuélì zhèngmíng de fùyìnjiàn.

When starting work, you need to provide copies of your ID and educational certificates.

LtnFeb 2026

阿曼实美伊2/26日内瓦再谈 传德黑兰愿就核...

ā 曼 zhèng shí měi yī 2 2 6 rì nèi wǎ zài tán chuán dé hēi lán yuàn jiù hé . . .

Oman confirmed that the United States and Iran will talk again in Geneva on 2/26, and it is rumored that Tehran is willing to go nuclear...

百度新闻Feb 2026

预见金马|财通券资管马晓立:厚植金融为民底色,以..

yù jiàn jīn mǎ cái tōng zhèng quàn zī guǎn mǎ xiǎo lì : hòu zhí jīn róng wéi mín de sè , yǐ . .

Foresight Golden Horse|Caitong Securities Asset Management Ma Xiaoli: Cultivate finance as the background of the people, to:

百度新闻Feb 2026

预见金马|财信券刘宛晨:长期资金入市步伐稳健,有..

yù jiàn jīn mǎ cái xìn zhèng quàn liú 宛 chén cháng qī zī jīn rù shì bù fá wěn jiàn , yǒu . .

Foresight Golden Horse|Caixin Securities Liu Wan Chen: Long-term capital into the market at a steady pace, there...

百度新闻Feb 2026

日本东指数上涨 1%,至3845.42点

rì běn dōng zhèng zhǐ shǔ shǎng zhǎng , zhì . diǎn

Japan's TSE index rose 1 percent to 3,845.42.

百度新闻Feb 2026

中俄互免签下的“新鲜事”

zhōng é hù miǎn qiān zhèng xià de xīn xiān shì

New Developments Under the China-Russia Visa-Free Agreement

Tatoeba

你曾是一宗司法案件的人?

Nǐ céng shì yī zōng sīfǎ ànjiàn de zhèngrén?

Have you ever served as a witness in a court case?

Tatoeba

这个签的有效期限是多久?

Zhège qiānzhèng de yǒuxiàoqī xiàn shì duōjiǔ?

How long is this visa good for?

Tatoeba

谣言最后被明是假的。

Yáoyán zuì hòu bèi zhèngmíng shì jiǎde.

The rumor turned out to be false.

Tatoeba

他被实是个理想丈夫。

Tā bèi zhèngshí shì gè lǐxiǎng zhàngfu.

He proved to be an ideal husband.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhèng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 证 (zhèng) mean in Chinese?
证 (zhèng) primarily means "certificate, prove." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #373 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 证 have?
证 is written with 7 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 证?
The radical associated with 证 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 证?
证 is composed of: 讠 (structural), 正 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠正 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 证?
Common words with 证 include: 保证 (bǎo zhèng, "guarantee"); 证明 (zhèng míng, "proof"); 证据 (zhèng jù, "evidence"); 证人 (zhèng rén, "witness"); 作证 (zuò zhèng, "to bear witness"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 证 (zhèng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhèng: 争 (to strive for), 征 (journey), 挣 (to struggle to get free), 睁 (to open (one's eyes)), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 证 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 证 and the traditional form is 証.

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.