砦 meaning and stroke order
Stockade, fort, military outpost; brothel
How to write 砦, stroke by stroke
11 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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- 11
Meaning of 砦
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- variant of 寨[zhai4]
How 砦 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Stone.
石 gives the meaning and 此 hints at the sound.
Radical: 石 (stone), shared by 114 characters on this site.
How to remember 砦
This (此 cǐ) pile of stone (石 shí) is a fort. Picture soldiers stacking stones on a hill to build a small stockade.
砦 is a variant of 寨 (zhài), and in mainland Chinese 寨 is the standard form for stockade, fort, or fortified village. You mostly meet 砦 in older texts, place names, or Japanese, where it is common in words for forts. Example: 山上有一个古砦。(Shān shàng yǒu yí gè gǔ zhài.) There is an old fort on the mountain.
Common mistake: Learners often read 砦 as cǐ because of the 此 on top, but it is pronounced zhài. Also, do not swap it in for 寨 in everyday modern writing, since 寨 is the form people expect, as in 村寨 (cūnzhài, village).
Questions about 砦
How many strokes are in 砦?
砦 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 砦 mean?
砦 (zhài) means stockade, fort, military outpost; brothel.
How do you pronounce 砦?
砦 is pronounced zhài, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 砦?
The radical of 砦 is 石, which carries the idea of "stone". Dictionaries list 砦 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 砦?
砦 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 寨, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 砦 and 寨?
They share the same sound and meaning. 寨 is the standard modern form, while 砦 is a variant that uses stone 石 instead of wood. Use 寨 in normal writing.
Why does 砦 mean brothel in some dictionaries?
That sense comes from its link with 寨, which could refer to a brothel in some older or colloquial usage. It is rare today, and the main sense you need is fort or stockade.