装 (zhuāng): dress, install

装 (zhuāng) is a Chinese character meaning “dress, install.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 壮 (phonetic) and 衣 (semantic). It ranks #467 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 装 clothes. Its radical form 衤 (clothing) appears in many related characters such as 衣 (yī, clothing), 表 (biǎo, exterior surface), 初 (chū, beginning).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. dress, install

Etymology & Origin

装

pictophoneticclothes

Decomposition: ⿱壮衣 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 装

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
服装nounfú zhuāngdress5
装备verb/nounzhuāng bèiequipment6
西装nounxī zhuāngsuit5
装饰verb/nounzhuāng shìto decorate5
安装verbān zhuāngto install5
装修verbzhuāng xiūto decorate5
包装verb/nounbāo zhuāngto wrap5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
假装verbjiǎ zhuāngto feign
装置nounzhuāng zhìto install
伪装verbwěi zhuāngto pretend to be (asleep etc)
时装nounshí zhuāngfashion
武装nounwǔ zhuāngarms
装作verbzhuāng zuòto pretend
装满verbzhuāng mǎnto fill up
装扮verbzhuāng bànto decorate
套装nountào zhuāngoutfit or suit (of clothes)
泳装nounyǒng zhuāngswimsuit
改装verbgǎi zhuāngto change one's costume
装傻verbzhuāng shǎto act stupid
集装箱nounjí zhuāng xiāngcontainer (for shipping)
装甲nounzhuāng jiǎvehicle armor
女装nounnǚ zhuāngwomen's clothes
107
Total compounds
30
As first character
67
As last character
3
As middle character

装 appears in 107 compound words: 30 as the first character, 67 as the last, and 3 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 装 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

涂tú
0.5585,282 co-occurrences
甲jiǎ
0.55128,214 co-occurrences
饰shì
0.54326,163 co-occurrences
幔màn
0.53913 co-occurrences
备bèi
0.52236,594 co-occurrences
武wǔ
0.51552,734 co-occurrences
伪wěi
0.5023,911 co-occurrences
狈bèi
0.49510 co-occurrences
安ān
0.48438,082 co-occurrences
箱xiāng
0.4814,966 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

不懂装懂bùdǒngzhuāngdǒngHSK 4+

to pretend to understand when one doesn't

phrase
男扮女装nán bàn nǚ zhuāngHSK 5+

to crossdress as a female

verb
女扮男装nǚ bàn nán zhuāngHSK 5+

(of a woman) to dress as a man (idiom)

phrase
乔装打扮qiáo zhuāng dǎ bànHSK 7+

to dress up in disguise (idiom); to pretend for the purpose of deceit

phrase
时装表演shí zhuāng biǎo yǎnHSK 4+

fashion show

phrase
武装部队wǔ zhuāng bù duìHSK 5+

armed forces

phrase
西装革履xīzhuānggélǚHSK 6+

trendy in one's taste of clothing

phrase
整装待发zhěngzhuāngdàifāHSK 4+

to be fully equipped and ready to set off

phrase
装疯卖傻zhuāngfēngmàishǎHSK 5+

to behave wildly; to feign madness

phrase
装聋作哑zhuānglóngzuòyǎHSK 7+

to pretend to not know; to deliberately to not ask or listen

phrase
装模作样zhuāng mó zuò yàngHSK 5+

(idiom) to put on an act; to show affectation; to indulge in histrionics

phrase
装腔作势zhuāngqiāngzuòshìHSK 6+

to act affectedly; to put on airs

phrase

Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing 装.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

装修房子需要三个月时间,预计年底可以入住。

Zhuāngxiū fángzi xūyào sān gè yuè shíjiān, yùjì niándǐ kěyǐ rùzhù.

Renovating the house will take three months; expected move-in is by year-end.

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

黄友凤吁警遵循指示 勿以服装为由拒报案

huáng yǒu fèng xū jǐng zūn xún zhǐ shì wù yǐ fú zhuāng wéi yóu jù bào àn

Huang Youfeng called on the police to follow the instructions and not to refuse to report the case on the grounds of clothing

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

首相考虑解冻军队采购资金 确保武装部队行动不受影响

shǒu xiāng kǎo lǜ jiě dòng jūn duì cǎi gòu zī jīn què bǎo wǔ zhuāng bù duì háng dòng bù shòu yǐng xiǎng

The prime minister considered unfreezing military procurement funds to ensure that armed forces operations were not affected

三立新聞網Feb 2026

台北101风水池民众提桶装 贾永婕急喊话

tái běi 1 0 1 fēng shuǐ chí mín zhòng tí tǒng zhuāng gǔ yǒng 婕 jí hǎn huà

Taipei 101 Feng Shui Pool People carry buckets Jia Yongjie shouted urgently

百度新闻Feb 2026

...,浙大发顶刊论文:用人工智能为膜蛋白造“装..

. . . , zhè dà fā dǐng kān lún wén yòng rén gōng zhì néng wéi mó dàn bái zào zhuāng . .

... ZJU issues topical paper: Artificial Intelligence for Membrane Prote...

百度新闻Feb 2026

点亮中国红!英国地标伦敦眼披上中国春节装扮

diǎn liàng zhōng guó hóng ! yīng guó dì biāo lún dūn yǎn pī shǎng zhōng guó chūn jié zhuāng bàn

Light Up China Red! London Eye Dons Chinese New Year Decorations

Tatoeba

你在你的车上装雪地轮了吗?

Nǐ zài nǐ de chē shàng zhuāng xuědìlún le ma?

Have you put winter tyres on your car yet?

Tatoeba

请你分开包装好吗?

Qǐng nǐ fēnkāi bāozhuāng hǎo ma?

Could you wrap this separately, please?

Tatoeba

你能帮我保留这件洋装吗?

Nǐ néng bāng wǒ bǎoliú zhè jiàn yángzhuāng ma?

Could you save this dress for me?

Tatoeba

我可以借你的灰色西装吗?

Wǒ kěyǐ jiè nǐ de huīsè xīzhuāng ma?

Could I borrow your gray suit?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 衣 (clothes) component

衤 Radical Family — Characters sharing the clothing radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhuāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 装 (zhuāng) mean in Chinese?
装 (zhuāng) primarily means "dress, install." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #467 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 装 have?
装 is written with 12 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 装?
The radical associated with 装 is 衤 (clothing). This radical appears in many characters related to clothing.
What are the components of 装?
装 is composed of: 壮 (phonetic), 衣 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱壮衣 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 装?
Common words with 装 include: 假装 (jiǎ zhuāng, "to feign"); 装置 (zhuāng zhì, "to install"); 服装 (fú zhuāng, "dress"); 装备 (zhuāng bèi, "equipment"); 伪装 (wěi zhuāng, "to pretend to be (asleep etc)"). There are over 107 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 装 (zhuāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhuāng: 状 ((bound form) form), 庄 (village, manor), 撞 (to knock against), 壮 (Zhuang ethnic group of Guangxi, the PRC's second most numerous ethnic group), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 装 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 装 and the traditional form is 裝.

Practice writing 装 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.