赃 meaning and stroke order
Booty, loot; stolen goods; to bribe
How to write 赃, stroke by stroke
10 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
- 8
- 9
- 10
Meaning of 赃
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- stolen goods; loot; spoils
- variant of 贓|赃[zang1]
How 赃 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Money.
贝 gives the meaning and 庄 hints at the sound.
Radical: 贝 (sea shell), shared by 63 characters on this site.
How to remember 赃
The left side 贝 (bèi) is a shell, an old symbol for money, and the right side 庄 (zhuāng) gives the sound. Picture money (贝) hidden away in a village house (庄): that is the loot, 赃 (zāng).
赃 almost never appears alone. It shows up in words about crime and corruption, like 赃物 (zāngwù, stolen property), 赃款 (zāngkuǎn, stolen money) and 分赃 (fēnzāng, to split the loot). Example: 警察找到了赃物。(Jǐngchá zhǎodào le zāngwù.) The police found the stolen goods.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 赃 (zāng, loot) with 脏 (zāng, dirty), which sounds the same and also has 庄 on the right. Remember that 赃 uses 贝 for money, while 脏 uses 月 for the body, so 脏衣服 means dirty clothes, not stolen ones.
Common words with 赃
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 分赃 | fēnzāng | to share the booty; to divide ill-gotten gains | HSK 7-9 |
| 栽赃 | zāizāng | to frame sb (by planting sth on them) | |
| 赃物 | zāngwù | booty; stolen property | |
| 赃款 | zāngkuǎn | booty; stolen goods |
Questions about 赃
How many strokes are in 赃?
赃 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 赃 mean?
赃 (zāng) means booty, loot; stolen goods; to bribe. A common word with it is 分赃 (fēnzāng), meaning "to share the booty; to divide ill-gotten gains".
How do you pronounce 赃?
赃 is pronounced zāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 赃?
The radical of 赃 is 贝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 赃 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 赃?
The traditional form of 赃 is 贓 and 贜. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 赃 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 赃 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 赃 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 栽赃 (zāizāng) mean exactly?
栽 means to plant, so 栽赃 is to plant stolen or illegal goods on someone to frame them. For example, 他被人栽赃了 (Tā bèi rén zāizāng le) means he was framed.
Is 赃 the same word as 贼 (zéi, thief)?
No. 贼 is the person who steals, and 赃 is what gets stolen. Both use 贝 because both relate to money or property, but they have different sounds and meanings.