岔 meaning and stroke order
To diverge, to branch; junction, fork in the road
How to write 岔, stroke by stroke
7 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
- 7
Meaning of 岔
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- fork in road
- bifurcation
- branch in road, river, mountain range etc
- to branch off
- to turn off
- to diverge
How 岔 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A road being split 分 by a mountain 山.
Radical: 山 (mountain), shared by 111 characters on this site.
How to remember 岔
The top is 分 (fēn), to divide, and the bottom is 山 (shān), mountain. Picture a mountain splitting a road in two, so the path forks.
岔 (chà) appears mostly in words about forks and things going off course, like 岔路 (chàlù) fork in the road and 打岔 (dǎchà) to interrupt. Example: 别打岔，让我说完。(Bié dǎchà, ràng wǒ shuō wán.) Don't interrupt, let me finish.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 岔 as fēn because of the 分 on top, but the character is pronounced chà with a fourth tone. Also do not confuse it with 盆 (pén, basin), which has 皿 at the bottom instead of 山.
Common words with 岔
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
岔 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 岔
How many strokes are in 岔?
岔 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 岔 mean?
岔 (chà) means to diverge, to branch; junction, fork in the road. A common word with it is 打岔 (dǎchà), meaning "interruption; to interrupt (esp. talk)".
How do you pronounce 岔?
岔 is pronounced chà, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 岔?
The radical of 岔 is 山, which carries the idea of "mountain". Dictionaries list 岔 under this radical.
Is 岔 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 岔 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 出岔子 mean in everyday speech?
出岔子 (chū chàzi) means something went wrong or a problem came up. It is casual and common, as in 工作出了岔子 (gōngzuò chū le chàzi), something went wrong at work.
Is 岔 used for changing the topic of a conversation?
Yes. 打岔 (dǎchà) can mean to cut in or to sidetrack a conversation, and 把话岔开 (bǎ huà chàkāi) means to steer the talk to another subject.