撑 (chēng) · to support; to prop up; to hold up

Meanings

1 to support; to prop up; to hold up
2 to open (an umbrella); to push off (with a pole)
3 to be stuffed full (from eating)

Characters

撑

chēng

to prop up; to support

Examples

HSK 3

他用手撑着头。

Tā yòng shǒu chēng zhe tóu.

He propped his head up with his hand.

HSK 3

快撑伞，下雨了！

Kuài chēng sǎn, xiàyǔ le!

Quick, open the umbrella, it's raining!

HSK 4

吃太多了，撑死了。

Chī tài duō le, chēng sǐ le.

I ate too much, I'm stuffed to death.

HSK 6

这么复杂的局面，他一个人很难撑下去。

Zhème fùzá de júmiàn, tā yí gè rén hěn nán chēng xiàqù.

Faced with such a complicated situation, it was hard for him to hold out alone.

Tips

usage

撑 has a great colloquial use: 撑死了 (stuffed to bursting). Also: 撑伞 (open/hold an umbrella), 撑船 (pole a boat), 撑腰 (support/back someone up). Figuratively, 撑 means to endure or hold on: 撑不住了 (can't hold on anymore).

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical, left-side form of 手)

Left hand radical - the side-form of 手. Anchors 撑 as a hand action: propping up, holding open, poling a boat, supporting a friend. Same radical fronts 拿 to hold, 提 to lift, 抬 to raise, 扛 to shoulder - the family of bear-and-support verbs.

phonetic

掌 zhǎng

palm (phonetic)

Right component 掌 (palm) - supplies the sound (zhǎng drifted to chēng, same zh-/ch- alternation as 长/常) and a bonus image: the palm holds things up. So 撑 reads as 'using a palm to prop' - phono-semantic, where the phonetic also carries real meaning.