者 meaning in English
(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...; (after a noun) person involved in ...
Meaning of 者
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- (after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...
- (after a noun) person involved in ...
- -er
- -ist
- (used after a number or 後|后[hou4] or 前[qian2] to refer to sth mentioned previously)
- (used after a term, to mark a pause before defining the term)
- (old) (used at the end of a command)
- (old) this
How to use 者
者 attaches after a verb, adjective, or noun to mean a person who does or is something, like -er or -ist in English. It appears in many common words such as 作者 (zuòzhě, author), 记者 (jìzhě, reporter), and 志愿者 (zhìyuànzhě, volunteer). Example: 他是一名记者。(Tā shì yī míng jìzhě.) He is a journalist.
Think of 者 (zhě) as a tag you stick on the end of an action to name the person doing it. Just like English adds -er to read to make reader, Chinese adds 者 to 读 (dú) to make 读者 (dúzhě).
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 者 (zhě) with 着 (zhe), the neutral-tone aspect particle in 看着 (kànzhe). They sound almost the same, but 者 has a third tone and makes a noun for a person, while 着 marks an ongoing action.
者 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
者 zhě · one who ... · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 者.
| 或者 | huòzhě | or; possibly; maybe; perhaps |
| 记者 | jìzhě | reporter; journalist |
| 作者 | zuòzhě | author; writer |
| 志愿者 | zhìyuànzhě | volunteer |
| 读者 | dúzhě | reader |
| 学者 | xuézhě | scholar |
| 消费者 | xiāofèizhě | consumer |
| 患者 | huànzhě | patient; sufferer |
| 使者 | shǐzhě | emissary; envoy |
| 后者 | hòuzhě | the latter |
| 前者 | qiánzhě | the former (i.e. the one mentioned first) |
| 受害者 | shòuhàizhě | casualty; victim |
Questions about 者
What does 者 mean?
者 (zhě) means "(after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...; (after a noun) person involved in ..." and is used as a suffix.
How do you write 者?
者 is made of 1 character: 者 (8 strokes). That is 8 strokes in total.
Is 者 an HSK word?
Yes. 者 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I use 者 on its own to mean person?
Not in modern everyday speech. 者 is a bound suffix, so it needs a word in front of it, as in 学者 (xuézhě, scholar). To say person by itself, use 人 (rén).
Why does 或者 (huòzhě) mean or if 者 means a person?
In 或者, 者 does not refer to a person. The word is a fixed expression meaning or, perhaps, used in statements, as in 你或者我 (nǐ huòzhě wǒ), you or me. Learn it as a whole word rather than breaking it into parts.