HSK 5 · Verbs

趁 chèn “to take advantage of (a time or chance)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 趁 means

  1. to take advantage of (a time or chance)
  2. while (something lasts)
  3. to avail oneself of
  4. to take advantage of

How to say 趁

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale趁chèn4th tone, falling

趁 in a sentence

  1. 应该趁年轻多读点书。

    Yīnggāi chèn niánqīng duō dú diǎn shū.

    You should read more while you’re young.

    Sentence #812234 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 是谁趁我不在的时候看我的日记？

    Shì shéi chèn wǒ bú zài de shíhou kàn wǒ de rìjì?

    Who read my diary while I was out?

    Sentence #410682 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 趁热喝你的汤。

    Chènrè hē nǐ de tāng.

    Have your soup while it’s hot.

    Sentence #334689 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 趁 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 趁 (chèn) with each of its parts in a different colour
趁chènto avail oneself of
  • 走walk · zǒuMeaning part
  • 㐱part of the characterSound part

How to write 趁

趁 12 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

趁 (chèn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 趁 (chèn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 趁

More words: Common Verbs

拆chāi · to tear open产生chǎnshēng · to produce吵chǎo · to quarrel抄chāo · to copy (by hand)成立chénglì · to establish成长chéngzhǎng · to grow up承担chéngdān · to take on (responsibility)承受chéngshòu · to bear

FAQs

趁 (chèn) means “to take advantage of (a time or chance)” or “while (something lasts)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it chèn: chèn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 趁 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 趁 from the suggestions. Typing chen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
趁 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.