HSK 5 · Money

挣 zhèng “to earn (money)” in Chinese

Traditional 掙

What 挣 means

  1. to earn (money)
  2. to struggle to get free
  3. to strive to acquire
  4. to make (money)

How to say 挣

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale挣zhèng4th tone, falling

挣 in a sentence

  1. 他每个月挣多少？

    Tā měi ge yuè zhèng duōshǎo?

    How much does he earn per month?

    Sentence #1323989 from Tatoeba

  2. 我想挣点钱，所以我一周打三天小时工。

    Wǒ xiǎng zhèng diǎn qián, suǒyǐ wǒ yì zhōu dǎ sān tiān xiǎoshígōng.

    I wanted to earn some money, so I worked part-time three days a week.

    Sentence #9962365 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 挣钱容易攒钱难。

    Zhèngqián róngyì zǎnqián nán.

    Earning money is easy; saving it is hard.

    Sentence #6461951 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 挣 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 挣 (zhèng) with each of its parts in a different colour
挣zhèngto struggle to get free
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
  • 争to dispute · zhēng

How to write 挣

挣 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 挣

Words with 挣

挣扎zhēngzhá · to struggle

More words: Money & Economy

押金yājīn · deposit优惠yōuhuì · preferential涨zhǎng · to rise (of prices账户zhànghù · bank account支票zhīpiào · cheque资金zījīn · funds资源zīyuán · resources昂贵ángguì · expensive

FAQs

挣 (zhèng) means “to earn (money)” or “to struggle to get free”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it zhèng: zhèng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 挣 is written 掙. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zheng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 挣 from the suggestions. Typing zheng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
挣 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.