总 (zǒng): always, total
总 (zǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “always, total.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丷 (structural), 口 (structural) and 心 (structural). It ranks #228 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 总 many mouths 口 speaking with one mind 心. Its radical form 心 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忘 (wàng, to forget), 想 (xiǎng, to think, to want), 爱 (ài, to love).
Definitions
- always, total
Etymology & Origin
ideographicMany mouths 口 speaking with one mind 心
Decomposition: ⿳丷口心 (layout: top-middle-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 总 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 总
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 总是adverb | zǒng shì | always | 3 |
| 总统noun | zǒng tǒng | president (of a country) | 5 |
| 总之conjunction | zǒng zhī | in a word | 5 |
| 总部noun | zǒng bù | headquarters | 5 |
| 总算adverb | zǒng suàn | at long last | 6 |
| 总裁noun | zǒng cái | chairman | 6 |
| 总共adverb | zǒng gòng | altogether | 5 |
| 总结verb/noun | zǒng jié | to sum up | 4 |
| 总理noun | zǒng lǐ | premier | 6 |
| 总体noun | zǒng tǐ | completely | 5 |
| 总数noun | zǒng shù | total | 5 |
| 总计verb | zǒng jì | (grand) total | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 夜总会noun | yè zǒng huì | nightclub |
| 总监noun | zǒng jiān | head |
| 总的来说adverb | zǒng de lái shuō | generally speaking |
| 总督noun | zǒng dū | governor-general |
| 总管noun | zǒng guǎn | to be in charge of (a major area of responsibility) |
| 总而言之 | zǒng ér yán zhī | in short |
| 总经理noun | zǒng jīng lǐ | general manager |
| 总归adverb | zǒng guī | in any case |
| 总署noun | zǒng shǔ | general office |
| 总和noun | zǒng hé | sum |
| 总机noun | zǒng jī | central exchange |
| 总局noun | zǒng jú | head office |
| 总司令noun | zǒng sī lìng | commander-in-chief |
| 总编 | zǒng biān | chief editor (of newspaper) |
| 总动员noun | zǒng dòng yuán | general mobilization (for war etc) |
总 appears in 102 compound words: 81 as the first character, 10 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 总 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
总经理明天要出差，会议改到下周举行。
Zǒngjīnglǐ míngtiān yào chūchāi, huìyì gǎi dào xià zhōu jǔxíng.
The general manager is going on a business trip tomorrow; the meeting is postponed to next week.
美国12月营建许可总数录得144.8万户,为202..
měi guó yuè yíng jiàn xǔ kě zǒng shǔ lù dé . mò hù , wéi . .
U.S. building permits totaled 1.448 million in December, up from 202...
莎拉·杜特尔特宣布参加2028年菲律宾总统大选
莎 lā dù tè ěr tè xuān bù cān jiā nián 菲 lǜ bīn zǒng tǒng dà xuǎn
Sara Duterte announces her candidacy for the 2028 Philippine presidential election.
B站总台春晚直播弹幕数达1.33亿,发送数量排...
zhàn zǒng tái chūn wǎn zhí bō dàn mù shǔ dá . yì , fā sòng shǔ liáng pái . . .
Bilibili's Spring Festival Gala live stream recorded 133 million bullet comments, ranking first in terms of comment volume...
伊朗总统:伊朗愿就其核工业和平性质接受任何形式...
yī lǎng zǒng tǒng yī lǎng yuàn jiù qí hé gōng yè hé píng xìng zhì jiē shòu rèn hé xíng shì . . .
Iranian President: Iran is willing to accept any form of verification regarding the peaceful nature of its nuclear industry...
泽连斯基称乌克兰对白俄罗斯总统实施制裁
zé lián sī jī chèn wū kè lán duì bái é luó sī zǒng tǒng shí shī zhì cái
Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine has imposed sanctions on the President of Belarus.
说谎总是一种罪吗？
Shuōhuǎng zǒngshì yīzhǒng zuì ma?
Is it always a sin to tell a lie?
他的忠告总是很明智。
Tā de zhōnggào zǒngshì hěn míngzhì.
His advice is always very sensible.
总统拒绝回答那个问题。
Zǒngtǒng jùjué huídá nèige wèntí.
The President refused to answer the question.
我提醒他要去会见总裁。
Wǒ tíxǐng tā yào qù huìjiàn zǒngcái.
I reminded him of his interview with the president.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 总 (zǒng) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 总 have?
What is the radical of 总?
What are the components of 总?
What are common words containing 总?
What characters sound the same as 总 (zǒng)?
Is 总 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 总 with real-time feedback
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