(zhōng): loyal, devoted, faithful

(zhōng) is a Chinese character meaning “loyal.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1314 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, heart. Its radical form (heart) appears in many related characters such as (máng, busy), (kuài, fast, happy), (zěn, how).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. loyal
  2. devoted
  3. faithful

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿱中心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhōng chéngdevoted
zhōng shífaithful
zhōng gàoto give sb a word of advice
xiào zhōngto vow loyalty and devotion to
zhōng yúto be loyal to
zhōng xīngood faith
zhōng zhēnloyal and dependable
jìn zhōngto display utter loyalty
zhōng xīn gěng gěngloyal and devoted (idiom)
zhōng chénfaithful official
zhōng zhēn bù yúunswerving in one's loyalty (idiom)
zhōng yánsincere advice
chì dǎn zhōng xīnlit. red-bellied devotion (idiom)
zhōng hòuhonest and considerate
zhōng yìloyal and righteous
40
Total compounds
60
As first character
25
As last character
15
As middle character

appears in 40 compound words: 60 as the first character, 25 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.

chéng
0.59919,176 co-occurrences
gěng
0.5568,664 co-occurrences
xiào
0.55328,164 co-occurrences
shì
0.4947,686 co-occurrences
xiào
0.49135,826 co-occurrences
bāo
0.4893,954 co-occurrences
chén
0.43213,410 co-occurrences
liè
0.42812,288 co-occurrences
xián
0.4253,780 co-occurrences
shù
0.4211,404 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

chìdǎnzhōngxīnHSK 7+

utter devotion

phrase
dà jiān sì zhōngHSK 7+

the most treacherous person appears the most guileless (idiom)

phrase
zhōngjūn'àiguóHSK 7+

to be loyal to the monarch and patriotic

phrase
ZhōngqīngběidàoHSK 7+

North Chungcheong Province (a province of South Korea)

ZhōngqīngnándàoHSK 7+

South Chungcheong Province (a province of South Korea)

zhōngxīngěnggěngHSK 7+

loyal and devoted

phrase
zhōngyánnì'ěrHSK 7+

sincere advice may be unpleasant to the ear (but it is beneficial)

phrase
zhōngzhēnbùyúHSK 7+

to be steadfastly faithful

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

甘情愿地帮助每一个需要帮助的人。

tā zhōng gān qíng yuàn dì bāng zhù měi yī gě xū yāo bāng zhù de rén .

He willingly helps everyone in need.

WorldjournalFeb 2026

实读者到副刊作者 不可一日无“世界日报”

cóng zhōng shí dòu zhě dào fù kān zuò zhě bù kě yī rì wú shì jiè rì bào

From loyal readers to supplement authors, there is no "World Journal" for a day

Vietnam+Feb 2026

016“光”号导弹护卫舰启程前往澳大利亚参加202...

0 1 6 guāng zhōng hào dǎo dàn hù wèi jiàn qǐ chéng qián wǎng ào dà lì yà cān jiā 2 0 2 . . .

016 The missile frigate "Guangzhong" set sail for Australia to participate in the 202nd...

百度新闻Feb 2026

用金牌当屏保,宁岩不过是把冷板凳坐热

yòng jīn pái dāng bǐng bǎo , nìng zhōng yán bù guò shì bǎ lěng bǎn dèng zuò rè

Using the gold medal as a screensaver, Ning Zhongyan is just sitting on the cold bench to heat up

百度新闻Feb 2026

大看台|从郑钦文到宁岩:冲破欧美垄断 镌刻东方印..

dà kàn tái cóng zhèng qīn wén dào nìng zhōng yán : chōng pò ōu měi lǒng duàn 镌 kè dōng fāng yìn . .

From Zheng Qinwen to Ning Zhongyan: Breaking through the monopoly of Europe and the United States and engraved the Oriental Seal:

百度新闻Feb 2026

...奥会|家乡连线:“我儿子是冠军!”——宁岩家乡..

. . . ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : wǒ ér zǐ shì guàn jūn ! — — nìng zhōng yán jiā xiāng . .

... Olympic Games|Hometown Connection: "My son is a champion!" ——Ning Zhongyan's hometown:

Tatoeba

他的告总是很明智。

Tā de zhōnggào zǒngshì hěn míngzhì.

His advice is always very sensible.

Tatoeba

你应该问你父亲的告并遵守它。

Nǐ yīnggāi wèn nǐ fùqīn de zhōnggào bìng zūnshǒu tā.

You should ask your father for his advice and follow it.

Tatoeba

他没有遵循我们的告。

Tā méiyǒu zūnxún wǒmen de zhōnggào.

He failed to follow our advice.

Tatoeba

犬八公的雕像伫立在涩谷站前。

Zhōng quǎn Bāgōng de diāoxiàng zhùlì zài Sègǔ zhàn qián.

The statue of Hachiko, the faithful dog, stands in front of Shibuya Station.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhōng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 忠 (zhōng) mean in Chinese?
忠 (zhōng) primarily means "loyal." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1314 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 忠 and 虫?
忠 (zhōng) and 虫 (chóng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 忄 vs 虫 (same 中 component).
How many strokes does 忠 have?
忠 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 忠?
The radical associated with 忠 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 忠?
忠 is composed of: 中 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱中心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 忠?
Common words with 忠 include: 忠诚 (zhōng chéng, "devoted"); 忠实 (zhōng shí, "faithful"); 忠告 (zhōng gào, "to give sb a word of advice"); 效忠 (xiào zhōng, "to vow loyalty and devotion to"); 忠于 (zhōng yú, "to be loyal to"). There are over 40 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 忠 (zhōng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhōng: 钟 (clock, bell), 肿 (to swell), 种 (seed), 中 ((bound form) China), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 忠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 忠 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.