众 meaning and stroke order
Multitude, crowd; masses, public
How to write 众, stroke by stroke
6 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Meaning of 众
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) crowd; multitude
- (bound form) many; numerous
- variant of 眾|众[zhong4]
How 众 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Three people 人 representing a crowd.
Radical: 人 (man), shared by 30 characters on this site.
How to remember 众
众 is three 人 (rén, person) stacked together, one on top and two below. One person is a person, two is a pair, and three people make a crowd.
众 is a bound form, so it rarely stands alone in modern speech. It appears in words like 观众 (guānzhòng, audience), 群众 (qúnzhòng, the masses) and 众多 (zhòngduō, numerous). Example: 今天的观众很多。(Jīntiān de guānzhòng hěn duō.) There is a big audience today.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 众 with 从 (cóng, from), which has only two 人 side by side. Another common slip is reading it with a first or third tone. It is fourth tone, zhòng, like 重 (zhòng, heavy).
Common words with 众
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 观众 | guānzhòng | spectators; audience; visitors (to an exhibition etc) | HSK 3 |
| 听众 | tīngzhòng | audience; listeners | HSK 3 |
| 大众 | dàzhòng | the masses; the great bulk of the population | HSK 4 |
| 众多 | zhòngduō | numerous | HSK 5 |
| 群众 | qúnzhòng | mass; multitude | HSK 5 |
| 公众 | gōngzhòng | public | HSK 6 |
| 民众 | mínzhòng | the populace; the masses; the common people | HSK 7-9 |
| 与众不同 | yǔzhòng-bùtóng | (idiom) to stand out from the crowd; distinctive; different from the rest | HSK 7-9 |
| 众人 | zhòngrén | everyone | HSK 7-9 |
| 众所周知 | zhòngsuǒzhōuzhī | (idiom) as everyone knows | HSK 7-9 |
| 当众 | dāngzhòng | in public; in front of everybody | HSK 7-9 |
| 出众 | chūzhòng | to stand out; outstanding | HSK 7-9 |
| 众志成城 | zhòngzhì-chéngchéng | unity of will is an impregnable stronghold (idiom) | HSK 7-9 |
| 众生 | zhòngshēng | all living things |
众 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 众
Learning 众 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 众
How many strokes are in 众?
众 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 众 mean?
众 (zhòng) means multitude, crowd; masses, public. A common word with it is 观众 (guānzhòng), meaning "spectators; audience; visitors (to an exhibition etc)".
How do you pronounce 众?
众 is pronounced zhòng, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 众?
The radical of 众 is 人, which carries the idea of "man". Dictionaries list 众 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 众?
The traditional form of 众 is 眾 and 衆. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 众 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 众 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 众 is part of the HSK 3 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 3.
What is the difference between 观众 and 听众?
观众 (guānzhòng) is an audience that watches, such as at a film, TV show or sports match. 听众 (tīngzhòng) is an audience that listens, such as for radio, a lecture or a concert.
How do you use 与众不同 in a sentence?
与众不同 (yǔzhòng-bùtóng) describes someone or something that stands out from the rest. It can work like an adjective, as in 她的想法与众不同。(Tā de xiǎngfǎ yǔzhòng-bùtóng.) Her ideas are different from everyone else's.