再 (zài) · again, once more, then (after something else)

Meanings

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

Characters

再

zài

again; once more

Examples

HSK 1

我们再想想。

Wǒmen zài xiǎngxiang.

Let's think about it some more.

HSK 2

请再说一次。

Qǐng zài shuō yī cì.

Please say it again.

HSK 2

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.