栽 (zāi): to plant; to grow

Meanings

1 to plant; to grow
2 to stumble; to fall
3 to frame someone (slang)

Characters

栽

zai

to plant; to stumble

Examples

他在院子里栽了一棵树。

Tā zài yuànzi lǐ zāi le yì kē shù.

He planted a tree in the yard.

他这次栽了个大跟头。

Tā zhècì zāi le ge dà gēntou.

He took a big fall this time (suffered a major setback).

别栽赃嫁祸给别人。

Bié zāizāng jià huò gěi biérén.

Don't frame others for something they didn't do.

Tips

usage

栽跟头 (stumble/take a fall) is a very common colloquial expression for suffering a setback or failure. 栽赃 means to plant evidence to frame someone — literally 'plant stolen goods.'

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Inner tree radical — pictograph of a sapling with branches and roots. The semantic anchor for 栽: the action centers on a young tree being put into the ground. Indexes the character in the woody-plant family with 株 trunk, 林 forest, 树 tree. Together with the cutting blade wrapping around it, 栽 reads as 'cut earth, set the sapling in.'

phonetic

戈 gē

halberd; dagger-axe (phonetic, fused)

Outer wrapping shape — 戈 (halberd, 4 strokes standalone) fused with an extra slashing stroke into an older 6-stroke phonetic 'zāi.' Wraps top, right, and bottom of 木. Supplies the sound via initial alternation (gē → zāi); same phonetic in 载 to carry, 裁 to cut, 哉 a particle. The cutting-blade image gives slicing earth open to plant a seedling.