将 (jiāng) · will; shall; about to

Meanings

1 will; shall; about to
2 to take; to use
3 to checkmate
4 introduces the object of a verb

Characters

将

jiāng

will; about to; to take

Examples

HSK 1

将来你想做什么？

Jiānglái nǐ xiǎng zuò shénme?

What do you want to do in the future?

HSK 3

请将门关上。

Qǐng jiāng mén guānshàng.

Please close the door.

HSK 4

由于天气原因，这场比赛将推迟到下周。

Yóuyú tiānqì yuányīn, zhè chǎng bǐsài jiāng tuīchí dào xiàzhōu.

Due to the weather, the match will be postponed to next week.

Tips

grammar

As an adverb 将 marks future action, similar to English "will" or "shall" - more formal than 要 and common in news, formal writing, and idiomatic phrases like 即将 (about to) and 将来 (the future). As a preposition it works like 把, fronting the object: 将 + object + verb (more literary than 把).

mistakes

Two main readings to keep apart: 将 (1st tone) for the adverb/preposition "will / about to / by means of", and 将 (4th tone) for the noun "general / military commander". A rare literary third reading qiāng (to invite, to request) survives only in classical poetry.

Components

radical

寸 cùn

hand; thumb's-breadth (radical)

Bottom-right thumb-and-hand radical (Kangxi #41) - three strokes, a hand with a dot marking the pulse-point one thumb's-breadth from the wrist. Indexes 将 as action-with-the-hand: holding, presenting, leading. Family 寺, 封, 射, 尉 all involve precise hand actions. Together: "evening meat held in hand" → present, lead, take.

phonetic

丬 qiáng

split-wood; bed (left)

Left half-tree element - simplified from 爿, originally a vertical wooden plank or bed-post (the left half of 木 split down the middle). In traditional 將 this piece was both phonetic (qiáng drifted to jiāng) and faintly semantic (a wooden support). It survives as the left side of 状, 壮, 床 - all carrying a faint plank or bed sense.

semantic

夕 xī

evening; meat-remnant

Top-right 夕 - graphically "evening" (a half-moon with a dot inside), but historically the stylised remnant of 月 "meat" from traditional 將. The image is an offering: meat held above an altar. Combined with the hand below, the ancient ritual of presenting meat - from which came the verb senses "to take, to lead, to command".