ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

(measure word for flat things); to open; surname Zhang

张 in traditional Chinese

What 张 is made of

Where 张 comes from

张 is a bow 弓 drawn long 长 — stretching the string taut. From stretching came opening and spreading, and from spreading flat things came its job as the measure word for paper, tickets, tables, and faces.

张 in Chinese culture

一张纸 a sheet of paper, 一张票 a ticket, 一张桌子 a table. 张 is also one of China's three most common surnames — roughly 90 million people, more than the population of Germany. 紧张 'stretched tight' means nervous; 张开 is to open wide.

Example

How to remember it

A bow 弓 stretched LONG 长 — things OPENED and spread FLAT.

With ~90 million people surnamed 张 and no emperor ever among them, Chinese folklore jokes that the Jade Emperor himself is surnamed Zhang — heaven compensating the throne-less clan.

Same sound, different tones

Words unlocked by 张

Related characters

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