札 meaning and stroke order
Letter, note; correspondence
How to write 札, stroke by stroke
5 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 札
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- thin piece of wood used a writing tablet (in ancient China)
- a kind of official document (in former times)
- letter
- note
- plague
- variant of 札[zha2]
How 札 is built
Components of the character.
Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.
How to remember 札
On the left is 木 (mù, wood), and on the right is a single hooked stroke 乚, like a brush mark. Picture someone writing one stroke on a thin strip of wood, which is what 札 (zhá) first meant: a wooden writing tablet.
Today 札 mostly appears in written or literary words about notes and letters, such as 札记 (zhájì, reading notes) and 手札 (shǒuzhá, a handwritten letter). Example: 他把读书的想法写成札记。(Tā bǎ dúshū de xiǎngfǎ xiě chéng zhájì.) He wrote his thoughts on the reading as notes.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 札 with 扎 (zhā, to prick or tie), which has the hand radical 扌 instead of 木. Remember that notes were written on wood, so 札 takes 木 and the second tone zhá.
札 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 札
Learning 札 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 札
How many strokes are in 札?
札 is written with 5 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 札 mean?
札 (zhá) means letter, note; correspondence.
How do you pronounce 札?
札 is pronounced zhá, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 札?
The radical of 札 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 札 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 札?
The traditional form of 札 is 剳 and 劄. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 札 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 札 used in everyday spoken Chinese?
Not much. It mainly shows up in set words like 札记 (zhájì, notes) and 信札 (xìnzhá, letters), which sound formal or literary. In daily speech people say 笔记 (bǐjì) for notes and 信 (xìn) for letters.
Why does 札 also mean plague?
The dictionary lists plague as one of the older senses of 札, found in classical texts. It is a separate meaning from the letter sense and is not used in modern Chinese.