差 (chà): bad

Meanings

1 bad
2 poor
3 to lack
4 short of

Characters

差

chà

poor; bad; lacking

Examples

他的中文很差。

Tā de zhōngwén hěn chà.

His Chinese is very poor.

差五分钟到三点。

Chà wǔfēn zhōng dào sān diǎn.

It's five minutes to three o'clock.

这个东西质量很差。

Zhège dōngxi zhìliàng hěn chà.

This thing is of very poor quality.

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.'