HSK 4 · Adjectives

正常 zhèngcháng “regular” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 正常 means

  1. regular
  2. normal

How to say 正常

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale正zhèng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale常cháng2nd tone, rising

正常 in a sentence

  1. 今年的天气不太正常。

    Jīnnián de tiānqì bú tài zhèngcháng.

    The weather this year has been a bit unusual.

    Sentence #717375 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 有点怕很正常。

    Yǒudiǎn pà hěn zhèngcháng.

    It’s normal to be a little afraid.

    Sentence #10650288 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 一切看上去正常。

    Yíqiè kànshangqu zhèngcháng.

    Everything looks normal.

    Sentence #5267573 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 正常 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 正 (zhèng) with each of its parts in a different colour
正zhèngstraight
  • 一one · yī
  • 止stop · zhǐ

Memory aidPicture a foot 止 heading straight for a line 一: straight, correct.

The character 常 (cháng) with each of its parts in a different colour
常chángalways
  • 尚still · shàngSound part
  • 巾napkin · jīnMeaning part

巾 hints at the meaning (napkin); 尚 (shàng) hints at the sound. Compare it with cháng.

Memory aidCloth 巾 with 尚 (shàng) for the sound. Its first meaning was a skirt; now it means “often, usual”.

How to write 正常

正 5 strokes · 常 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 正常

Words with 正

正在zhèngzài · in the process of正确zhèngquè · correct正式zhèngshì · formal真正zhēnzhèng · genuine正好zhènghǎo · just (in time)正zhèng · just (in the middle of doing something)改正gǎizhèng · to correct反正fǎnzhèng · anyway正月zhēngyuè · first month of the lunar year更正gēngzhèng · to correct

Words with 常

非常fēicháng · extremely常cháng · often经常jīngcháng · often常见chángjiàn · common常用chángyòng · commonly used常常chángcháng · often平常píngcháng · ordinary常识chángshí · common sense日常rìcháng · day-to-day通常tōngcháng · regular

More words: Adjectives

友好yǒuhǎo · friendly脏zāng · dirty重zhòng · heavy著名zhùmíng · famous正确zhèngquè · correct正式zhèngshì · formal直接zhíjiē · direct (opposite: indirect 间接)准确zhǔnquè · accurate

FAQs

正常 (zhèngcháng) means “regular” or “normal”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it zhèngcháng: zhèng with a 4th tone, then cháng with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 正常 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhengchang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 正常 from the suggestions. Typing zhengchang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
正常 is an HSK 4 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.