Meaning
exist; deposit; store; keep; survive
Chinese: 存在、保存、存放。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “cun” becomes a different word in each tone. 存 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 存在cún zàito exist; to be; existence
- 生存shēng cúnto exist; to survive
- 保存bǎo cúnto conserve; to preserve; to keep; to store
- 存款cún kuǎnto deposit money (in a bank etc); bank savings; bank deposit
- 存放cún fàngto deposit; to store; to leave in sb's care
Example Sentence
我去银行存钱。Wǒ qù yín háng cún qián.I went to the bank to deposit money.
我WǒI去qùto go银行yín hángbank存钱cún qiánto deposit money。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
才 (a sprout) plus 子 (child): keeping the young alive — ‘to exist, live, survive; to store, keep, save, deposit; to retain’ (存在, 保存, 存钱).
A way to remember it
‘To exist / store / keep’: 存在 (exist), 保存 (preserve).
Easy to confuse with
- 在‘To be at’: also built on 才, but with 土, not 子.