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扎

zhā / zā / zhá
verb HSK 6 #3,290

Meanings

  1. 1 to prick; to stick in; to pierce
  2. 2 to plunge into; to dive into
  3. 3 to be stationed at; to camp (of troops)
  4. 4 jar; mug (measure for beer, loanword)

Examples

小心，别被针扎到了。
Xiǎoxīn, bié bèi zhēn zhā dào le.
Be careful, don't get pricked by the needle.
他一头扎进了水里。
Tā yītóu zhā jìn le shuǐ lǐ.
He dove headfirst into the water.
请来两扎扎啤。
Qǐng lái liǎng zhā zhāpí.
Two draft beers please.

Tips

usage
The zhā reading (level tone) is by far the most common — it covers (1) pricking / piercing: 扎针 (give an injection), 扎心 (heartrending, internet slang); (2) plunging / diving: 扎根 (take root), 扎实 (solid, down-to-earth); (3) camping / stationing: 驻扎 (station troops), 扎营 (pitch camp), 安营扎寨; (4) the beer measure: 扎啤 (draft beer, from English 'jar').
memory
Three readings, three jobs — and an easy mnemonic. zhā POINTS into things (needle, ground, camp). zā BUNDLES things (tie, wrap). zhá STRUGGLES inside things (only in 挣扎). The visual is the same: a hand 扌 plus a single hooked stroke 乚 — but the verb meaning changes with the tone.

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand (radical form of 手)
Left-side hand radical, the side form of 手. Anchors 扎 in the manual-action family — pricking, tying, struggling are all things hands do. Same radical drives 打 (hit), 拉 (pull), 扔 (throw). Provides essentially all the meaning while the right side just suggests sound and shape.
phonetic
乚 yǐ
hidden; second (variant of 乙)
Right side is a single hooked stroke — a variant of 乙. The phonetic role is rough (yǐ → zhā, the readings drifted heavily) so today 乚 functions more as a graphic anchor than a real sound clue. Same shape ends 礼, 札, 乳.

Stroke Order

扎 zhā