差 (chà) · bad, poor, to lack

Meanings

1 bad
2 poor
3 to lack
4 short of

Characters

差

chà

poor; bad; lacking

Examples

HSK 1

他的中文很差。

Tā de zhōngwén hěn chà.

His Chinese is very poor.

HSK 4

这个东西质量很差。

Zhège dōngxi zhìliàng hěn chà.

This thing is of very poor quality.

HSK 7-9

差五分钟到三点。

Chà wǔfēn zhōng dào sān diǎn.

It's five minutes to three o'clock.

Tips

mistakes

差 has four readings. As chà (4th tone) it means 'bad/lacking' - 中文很差 'Chinese is poor'. As chā (1st tone) it's the noun 'difference' (差异, 差距). As chāi it's 'errand/dispatch' (出差). Cī only survives inside 参差不齐.

grammar

For telling time, 差 means 'short of': 差十分三点 = 'ten minutes to three' (2:50).

Components

radical

工 gōng

work; tool

The 工 radical at the bottom serves as the indexing handle and represents a measuring tool - a carpenter's square. Combined with the sheep above, the character pictures the act of measuring and grading livestock. The discrepancies revealed by such measuring became the abstract 'difference, lack.' Indexing radical.

semantic

羊 yáng

sheep (compressed form)

The upper portion is a compressed 羊 (sheep) - head and horns visible. Combined with the 工 (work/tool) component below, the original character depicted measuring or selecting sheep, comparing one to another. From 'comparing/sorting' came 'difference,' and from notice of inequality came 'poor, lacking.'