Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced ze
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ze, including 则 zé, 责 zé, 泽 zé, 择 zé / zhái. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say ze, use a flat-tongue z, slide into e, and lay the tone on top — it is one sound, not the letters read separately.
Initial z
Use a flat tongue. It is not English “z”.
Final e
Settle the final e into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (则 zé, 责 zé, 泽 zé, 择 zé / zhái) and lock in their tones. 4 common characters share the sound ze, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
ze turns up here with 1 different tone; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 则, 责, 泽… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing ze inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
4 common characters in this group.