中 (zhòng): to hit (a target)

Meanings

1 to hit (a target)
2 to be struck by (a bullet, illness, etc.)
3 to win (a prize, lottery)

Characters

中

zhòng

to hit (a target)

Examples

他买彩票中了一百万。

Tā mǎi cǎipiào zhòng le yìbǎiwàn.

He bought a lottery ticket and won a million.

他吃了变质的食物，结果中毒住院了。

Tā chī le biànzhì de shíwù, jiéguǒ zhòngdú zhùyuàn le.

He ate spoiled food and ended up hospitalized with food poisoning.

猎人一枪就命中了目标。

Lièrén yī qiāng jiù mìngzhòng le mùbiāo.

The hunter hit the target with a single shot.

Tips

mistakes

Don't confuse this zhòng reading with zhōng. zhòng is the verb 'to hit' or 'be struck': 中奖 (win a prize), 中毒 (be poisoned), 中暑 (heatstroke), 中风 (stroke), 命中 (hit a target). If the compound is about hitting, winning, or being struck by something bad, it's zhòng — otherwise zhōng.

memory

Picture the arrow piercing the target in 中 — the vertical stroke is the shaft, the box is the bullseye. zhōng (1st tone) is the static 'middle' meaning; zhòng (4th tone) is the active 'hit the middle' meaning. The drop in tone matches the drop of the arrow: same picture, different action.

Components

radical

丨 gǔn

vertical stroke; through-line

The long vertical piercing the box from top to bottom, pinpointing the exact center. The arrow-through-target image gives 中 both senses: 'middle / center' (zhōng) and 'to hit the mark' (zhòng). Indexed under Kangxi #2 丨 (the line radical).

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth; opening; frame

The boxy outer frame, read here as a target or enclosed area rather than a literal mouth. Three strokes form the rectangle that the vertical line will pierce dead-center, setting up the 'middle / center' image.