闸 meaning and stroke order
Sluice; sluice gate; to dam up water; (coll.) brake
How to write 闸, stroke by stroke
8 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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- 8
Meaning of 闸
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- sluice; sluice gate
- to dam up water
- (coll.) brake
- (coll.) electric switch
- old variant of 閘|闸[zha2]
- sluice
How 闸 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Gate.
门 gives the meaning and 甲 hints at the sound.
Radical: 门 (gate), shared by 47 characters on this site.
How to remember 闸
闸 is a gate 门 (mén) with 甲 (jiǎ) inside, which gives the sound. Picture a strong armored gate, like 甲 armor, holding back water.
闸 most often means a sluice gate or floodgate, as in 水闸 (shuǐzhá) and 闸门 (zhámén). In everyday speech it can also mean a brake or an electric switch, as in 刹闸 (shāzhá, to brake) and 拉闸 (lāzhá, to cut the power). Example: 他们打开了闸门放水。(Tāmen dǎkāi le zhámén fàng shuǐ.) They opened the sluice gate to release water.
Common mistake: Learners often read 闸 as jiǎ because of the phonetic 甲, but it is zhá with a second tone. Also do not confuse it with 闹 (nào, noisy), which has 市 inside the gate instead of 甲.
Common words with 闸
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 闸门 | zhámén | sluice gate | |
| 气闸 | qìzhá | pneumatic brake; airlock | |
| 水闸 | shuǐzhá | sluice; water gate |
闸 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 闸
How many strokes are in 闸?
闸 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 闸 mean?
闸 (zhá) means sluice; sluice gate; to dam up water; (coll.) brake. A common word with it is 闸门 (zhámén), meaning "sluice gate".
How do you pronounce 闸?
闸 is pronounced zhá, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 闸?
The radical of 闸 is 门, which carries the idea of "gate". Dictionaries list 闸 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 闸?
The traditional form of 闸 is 牐 and 閘. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 闸 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 闸 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 闸 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say 'to brake' using 闸?
Common colloquial phrases are 刹闸 (shāzhá) and 踩闸 (cǎizhá, to step on the brake). In more standard Mandarin, 刹车 (shāchē) is the most common word for braking a car.
What does 拉闸 mean?
拉闸 (lāzhá) literally means to pull the switch, and it refers to cutting off the electricity supply. You may hear it during power rationing, as in 拉闸限电 (lāzhá xiàndiàn).