Meaning
middle; center; China; in
Chinese: 中间、里面、适中或符合。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “zhong” becomes a different word in each tone. 中 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
- 中间zhōng jiānthe middle; the inside; in the middle; within
- 中午zhōng wǔnoon; midday
- 中学zhōng xuémiddle school
- 中学生zhōng xué shēngmiddle-school student; high school student
- 其中qí zhōngamong; in; included among these
Example Sentence
老师站在教室中间给大家讲故事。Lǎo shī zhàn zài jiào shì zhōng jiān gěi dà jiā jiǎng gù shì.The teacher stands in the middle of the classroom and tells everyone a story.
老师Lǎo shīteacher站zhànstation在zàiat教室jiào shìclassroom中间zhōng jiānthe middle给gěito大家dà jiāeveryone讲jiǎngto speak故事gù shìold practice。
Memory Note
The vertical line passes through the center of the box, making the meaning middle or center easy to remember.
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
An indicative character: a vertical line passing through the centre of an enclosure, marking the ‘middle / centre’.
A way to remember it
A line straight through the middle of a box — dead centre.
Easy to confuse with
- 申‘State / extend’: the vertical line passes through 田, sticking out both ends.