(zhuì): to fall, to drop, to weigh down

(zhuì) is a Chinese character meaning “to fall.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2223 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, earth. Its radical form (earth) appears in many related characters such as (zài, to exist), (, earth, ground), (chǎng, field, place).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to fall
  2. to drop
  3. to weigh down

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿱队土 (layout: top-bottom)

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

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhuì rùto drop into
zhuì huǐ(of an airplane etc) to fall to the ground and crash
zhuì luòto fall
zhuì jīairplane crash
yáo yáo yù zhuìtottering
xià zhuì(of objects) to fall
tiān huā luàn zhuìlit. a deluge of heavenly flowers (idiom)
zhuì ziweight
zhuì rù qíng wǎngto fall in love
ěr zhuì zieardrops (pendant jewelry)
西jīn wū xī zhuì , yù tù dōng shēnglit. the golden bird of the sun sets in the west, the jade hare of the moon rises in the east
zhuì mǎto fall off a horse
zhuì hǎito fall into the ocean
shī zhuìloss
jī zhuìto shoot down
26
Total compounds
54
As first character
27
As last character
19
As middle character

appears in 26 compound words: 54 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 19 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.

huǐ
0.68515,735 co-occurrences
yáo
0.5361,638 co-occurrences
luò
0.5058,778 co-occurrences
0.48510,788 co-occurrences
0.472948 co-occurrences
fēi
0.4673,282 co-occurrences
lóu
0.4582,997 co-occurrences
diào
0.446756 co-occurrences
wáng
0.4213,074 co-occurrences
tóng
0.41210 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

tiānhuāluànzhuìHSK 7+

wild boast about something; extravagant embellishments; hype

phrase
yáoyáoyùzhuìHSK 7+

tottering; ramshackle; on the brink of collapse

phrase
gūgūzhuìdìHSK 7+

to be born

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座古已经有两千多年的历史了。

zhè zuò gǔ zhuì yǐ jīng yǒu liǎng qiān duō nián de lì shǐ le .

This ancient pendant has a history of over two thousand years.

StheadlineFeb 2026

东京晴空塔爆电梯急事故 约20人受困5.5小时 1200游...

dōng jīng qíng kōng tǎ bào diàn tī jí zhuì shì gù yuē 2 0 rén shòu kùn 5 . 5 xiǎo shí 1 2 0 0 yóu . . .

Tokyo Skytree explosion elevator crash about 20 people trapped for 5.5 hours 1200 tours...

StheadlineFeb 2026

东京晴空塔爆电梯急事故 约20人受困 大批游客滞留观景台

dōng jīng qíng kōng tǎ bào diàn tī jí zhuì shì gù yuē 2 0 rén shòu kùn dà pī yóu kè zhì liú guàn jǐng tái

Tokyo Skytree exploded and fell sharply, about 20 people were trapped, and a large number of tourists were stranded at the observation deck

三立新聞網Feb 2026

中国观光巴士湖酿8死 旅团业者未注册

zhōng guó guàn guāng bā shì zhuì hú niàng 8 sǐ lǚ tuán yè zhě wèi zhù cè

China's sightseeing bus fell into the lake and caused 8 deaths, and the tour operator was not registered

NewtalkFeb 2026

男子骑车出游经南横疑自撞护栏 边坡送医不治

nán zǐ qí chē chū yóu jīng nán héng yí zì zhuàng hù lán zhuì biān pō sòng yī bù zhì

The man was riding a bicycle through South Heng and was suspected of crashing into a guardrail and falling down a slope and was taken to hospital where he died

Tatoeba

你的灵魂已进了地狱。

Nǐ de línghún yǐ zhuì jìn le dìyù.

Your soul has been condemned to hell.

Tatoeba

她曾经入过爱河吗 ?

Tā céngjīng zhuìrù guo àihé ma?

Has she ever fallen in love?

Tatoeba

她不会乘飞机因为害怕机。

Tā bùhuì chéng fēijī yīnwèi hàipà zhuìjī.

She won't take an airplane for fear of a crash.

Tatoeba

根据电视新闻,一架飞机在印度毁了。

Gēnjù diànshì xīnwén, yī jià fēijī zài Yìndù zhuìhuǐ le.

According to TV news, there was a plane crash in India.

Tatoeba

我会给你这个饰。

Wǒ huì gěi nǐ zhège zhuìshì.

I'll give you this pendant.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhuì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 坠 (zhuì) mean in Chinese?
坠 (zhuì) primarily means "to fall." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2223 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 坠 and 起?
坠 (zhuì) and 起 (qǐ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 坠 (fall) vs 起 (rise).
How many strokes does 坠 have?
坠 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 坠?
The radical associated with 坠 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 坠?
坠 is composed of: 队 (phonetic), 土 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱队土 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 坠?
Common words with 坠 include: 坠入 (zhuì rù, "to drop into"); 坠毁 (zhuì huǐ, "(of an airplane etc) to fall to the ground and crash"); 坠落 (zhuì luò, "to fall"); 坠机 (zhuì jī, "airplane crash"); 摇摇欲坠 (yáo yáo yù zhuì, "tottering"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 坠 (zhuì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhuì: 追 (to chase). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 坠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 坠 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.