妆 meaning and stroke order
Adornment, make-up; to dress up, to use make-up
How to write 妆, 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
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- 6
Meaning of 妆
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (of a woman) to adorn oneself
- makeup
- adornment
- trousseau
- stage makeup and costume
- variant of 妝|妆[zhuang1]
How 妆 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Woman.
女 gives the meaning and 丬 hints at the sound.
Radical: 女 (woman), shared by 156 characters on this site.
How to remember 妆
妆 is a pictophonetic character: 女 (woman) on the right gives the meaning, and 丬 on the left hints at the sound zhuāng. Picture a woman sitting at her dressing table getting ready, and you have 妆, adornment and makeup.
妆 rarely stands alone in modern speech. It mostly appears in words like 化妆 (huàzhuāng, to put on makeup) and 化妆品 (huàzhuāngpǐn, cosmetics). Example: 她每天早上都化妆。(Tā měitiān zǎoshang dōu huàzhuāng.) She puts on makeup every morning.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 妆 with 装 (zhuāng, to dress up, to install, to pretend), which sounds the same. Use 化妆 for makeup, but 服装 (fúzhuāng) for clothing and 假装 (jiǎzhuāng) for pretending.
Common words with 妆
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
妆 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 妆
How many strokes are in 妆?
妆 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 妆 mean?
妆 (zhuāng) means adornment, make-up; to dress up, to use make-up. A common word with it is 化妆 (huàzhuāng), meaning "to put on makeup".
How do you pronounce 妆?
妆 is pronounced zhuāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 妆?
The radical of 妆 is 女, which carries the idea of "woman". Dictionaries list 妆 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 妆?
The traditional form of 妆 is 妝 and 粧. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 妆 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 妆 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 妆 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why is 嫁妆 pronounced jiàzhuang with a neutral tone?
In 嫁妆 (dowry), the second syllable is usually read in the neutral tone in standard Mandarin, so it sounds like jiàzhuang. In 化妆 and most other words, 妆 keeps its first tone, zhuāng.
Does 化妆 only mean everyday makeup?
No. 化妆 also covers stage makeup and costume for actors. 化妆舞会 (huàzhuāngwǔhuì) is a masquerade, and 化妆室 (huàzhuāngshì) can mean a backstage dressing room or a polite word for a restroom.