Meaning
to increase; to expand; to add
Chinese: 增加、增长。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “zeng” becomes a different word in each tone. 增 is the 1st 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
- 增加zēng jiāto raise; to increase
- 增长zēng zhǎngto grow; to increase
- 增强zēng qiángto increase; to strengthen
- 增产zēng chǎnto increase production
- 增大zēng dàto enlarge; to amplify; to magnify
Example Sentence
最近天气变冷，感冒的人增多了。Zuì jìn tiān qì biàn lěng, gǎn mào de rén zēng duō le.Recently the weather has turned cold, and more people have caught colds.
最近Zuì jìnrecently天气tiān qìweather变biànto change冷lěngcold，感冒gǎn màoto catch cold的deof人rénperson增多zēng duōto increase了le(completed action)。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The earth radical 土 plus 曾 (sound): to heap up more earth — ‘to increase, add, gain, multiply, grow’ (增加, 增长, 增多).
A way to remember it
‘To increase / add / grow’: 增加 (add), 增长 (grow).