再 (zài): again

Meanings

1 again
2 once more
3 then (after something else)

Characters

再

zài

again; once more

Examples

请再说一次。

Qǐng zài shuō yī cì.

Please say it again.

我们再想想。

Wǒmen zài xiǎngxiang.

Let's think about it some more.

吃完饭再走。

Chī wán fàn zài zǒu.

Leave after you finish eating.

Tips

grammar

再 is for future repetition ('do it again later'), while 又 is for past repetition ('did it again'): 他明天再来 'He'll come again tomorrow' vs. 他又来了 'He came again.'

mistakes

Don't confuse 再 (again) with 在 (at/in). They sound the same but have completely different characters and meanings.

Components

ideograph

一 yī

one (top stroke)

Top horizontal functions as a positional marker — a lid above the body 冉, an abstract indicator of an added layer. Indexed under Kangxi #13 冂 by tradition, though the frame radical isn't visibly present in the modern form. Historically the ancient graph pictured one item piled on top of another.

semantic

冉 rǎn

gradually; tender (here graphic body)

Bottom 冉 supplies the underlying body. Originally a frame holding stacked goods; here the bookkeeping unit being repeated. The 冉 piece is the 'first layer', the 一 above adds the 'second' — together giving 再's once-more sense.

Filed under radical 冂 (jiōng, #13) by convention. 冂 is not a separate component in 再, so no strokes are highlighted.