Character: 在 (zài) to be (in/at)

在 (zài) means to be (in/at), the character is visualized as a pile of soil outside of a house

A pile of soil outside of a house

Pinyin zài
Meaning to be (in/at); to exist
Radical 土 繁體字 same
the written pattern 土, highlighted in red, is found in the character 在 (zài) to be (in/at) 土

writing patterns, not components

Chinese character phono-semantic compoundcategory: phono-semantic compound

Chinese character left up surrounded structurestructure: left up surrounded

6stroke count

HSK 1

Stroke order of the Chinese character 在 (zài) to be (in/at). There are 6 strokes, and the character is written from top to bottom

Breakdown

在 (zài) “to exist” consists of two parts. The one on the left top is a phonetic component that is derived from 才 (cái) “ability.” The other is the radical 土 (tǔ) “soil,” representing the essential element for things to exist on earth. Today, 在 (zài) is mainly used to show the location or time where something exists, meaning “to be (in/at).”

Used as a morpheme/word

在 (zài) can be used as a word itself, but only when it states a location, times, or state. Otherwise, it is a morpheme.

Wordlist

How to pronounce

This character sounds like the connected ds-eye of “kids eye,” but the s is not voiced.

4th Pinyin Yale IPA
Initial z- dz [ts]
Final -ai ai [aɪ]

Chinese character practice sheet

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