(zhuāng): (of a woman) to adorn oneself, makeup, adornment

(zhuāng) is a Chinese character meaning “(of a woman) to adorn oneself.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2517 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, woman. Its radical form (woman) appears in many related characters such as (, woman), (nǎi, grandmother, milk), (, she).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (of a woman) to adorn oneself
  2. makeup
  3. adornment

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwoman

Decomposition: ⿰丬女 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
verbhuà zhuāngto put on makeup6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
huà zhuāng pǐncosmetic
huà zhuāng shīmake-up artist
shū zhuāng táidressing table
jià zhuangdowry
huà zhuāng shìdressing room
shū zhuāngto dress and groom oneself
nóng zhuāng yàn mǒto apply makeup conspicuously (idiom)
xiè zhuāngto remove makeup
dàn zhuānglight makeup
huà zhuāng wǔ huìmasquerade
huà zhuāng shuǐskin toner
zhuāng diǎnto decorate
yào zhuāng diàndrugstore
zhěng zhuāngsame as 整裝|整装
zhuāng zàomakeup and styling
31
Total compounds
19
As first character
48
As last character
32
As middle character

appears in 31 compound words: 19 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 32 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.

shū
0.5791,062 co-occurrences
jià
0.5682,868 co-occurrences
huà
0.52115,018 co-occurrences
pǐn
0.4807,734 co-occurrences
nóng
0.430310 co-occurrences
yàn
0.401108 co-occurrences
liǎn
0.382114 co-occurrences
guì
0.37772 co-occurrences
shī
0.3671,116 co-occurrences
0.36296 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

dàn zhuāng nóng mǒHSK 7+

in light or heavy makeup (idiom)

phrase
nóngzhuāngyànmǒHSK 7+

to wear heavy make-up; to be caked in make-up

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个孩从小就展现出非凡的音乐天赋。

zhè gě zhuāng hái cóng xiǎo jiù zhǎn xiàn chū fēi fán de yīn lè tiān fù .

This child has shown extraordinary musical talent since early childhood.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

特企/KC SKIN获“美米其林”必买认证

tè qǐ K C S K I N huò měi zhuāng mǐ qí lín bì mǎi rèn zhèng

Feature/KC SKIN Earns "Must-Buy" Certification from the "Michelin Guide of Beauty"

Am730Mar 2026

...粉底液 记者实测养肤粉底液!养肤之余超贴 打造全天候透亮肌

. . . fěn de yè jì zhě shí cè yǎng fū fěn de yè ! yǎng fū zhī yú chāo tiē zhuāng dǎ zào quán tiān hòu tòu liàng jī

... Liquid foundation The reporter measured the skin nourishing foundation! In addition to nourishing the skin, it is super makeup to create all-day translucent skin

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...史上的今天/1961年美国美容专家示范化 大使夫人当模特儿

. . . shǐ shàng de jīn tiān 1 9 6 1 nián měi guó měi róng zhuān jiā shì fàn huà zhuāng dà shǐ fū rén dāng mó tè ér

... Today in history/1961 American beauty experts demonstrate makeup, and the ambassador's wife is a model

TvbsFeb 2026

邱偲琹揭秘2026容关键字 前急救“5分钟小脸”诀窍公开

邱 偲 琹 jiē mì 2 0 2 6 zhuāng róng guān jiàn zì zhuāng qián jí jiù 5 fēn zhōng xiǎo liǎn jué qiào gōng kāi

Qiu Siqin reveals the secret of 2026 makeup keywords The trick of pre-makeup first aid "5-minute small face" is revealed

百度新闻Feb 2026

春运进行时|为二次元乘客开辟临时卸区 桂林公园站..

chūn yùn jìn háng shí wéi èr cì yuán chéng kè kāi pì lín shí xiè zhuāng qū guì lín gōng yuán zhàn . .

During the Spring Festival, a temporary makeup removal area was opened for two-dimensional passengers Guilin Park Station:

Tatoeba

男孩化没有什么问题。

Nánhái huà zhuāng méiyǒu shénme wèntí.

There is nothing wrong with boys wearing cosmetics.

Tatoeba

你很美, 甚至不必使用化品。

Nǐ hěn měi, shènzhì bù bì shǐyòng huàzhuāngpǐn.

You are so beautiful, you do not need to use makeup.

Tatoeba

她从不化, 但总是看起来很迷人。

Tā cóngbù huàzhuāng, dàn zǒngshì kànqǐlai hěn mírén.

She never wears makeup, but she always looks very charming.

Tatoeba

演员的皮肤是化过的。

Yǎnyuán de pífū shì huà guo zhuāng de.

The actress' skin has makeup on it.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhuāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 妆 (zhuāng) mean in Chinese?
妆 (zhuāng) primarily means "(of a woman) to adorn oneself." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2517 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 妆 and 奖?
妆 (zhuāng) and 奖 (jiǎng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 女 vs 大 (same 丬 component).
How many strokes does 妆 have?
妆 is written with 6 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 妆?
The radical associated with 妆 is 女 (woman). This radical appears in many characters related to woman.
What are the components of 妆?
妆 is composed of: 丬 (phonetic), 女 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰丬女 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 妆?
Common words with 妆 include: 化妆 (huà zhuāng, "to put on makeup"); 化妆品 (huà zhuāng pǐn, "cosmetic"); 化妆师 (huà zhuāng shī, "make-up artist"); 梳妆台 (shū zhuāng tái, "dressing table"); 嫁妆 (jià zhuang, "dowry"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 妆 (zhuāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhuāng: 壮 (Zhuang ethnic group of Guangxi, the PRC's second most numerous ethnic group), 状 ((bound form) form), 庄 (village, manor), 桩 (stump), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 妆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 妆 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.