种 (zhǒng): kind; type; sort; variety

Meanings

1 kind; type; sort; variety
2 species
3 seed
4 classifier for kinds, types, sorts

Characters

种

zhǒng

kind; type; seed

Grain radical 禾 on the left ties 种 to seeds and crops; right side 中 supplies the sound.

Examples

这种水果我从来没见过。

Zhè zhǒng shuǐguǒ wǒ cónglái méi jiàn guò.

I've never seen this kind of fruit before.

一共有几种选择？

Yīgòng yǒu jǐ zhǒng xuǎnzé?

How many options are there in total?

把这些种子留到明年。

Bǎ zhèxiē zhǒngzi liú dào míngnián.

Save these seeds for next year.

Tips

grammar

Two readings split by tone and role. Third-tone 种 (this entry) is a NOUN — 'kind, type, species, seed' — and a measure-word classifier (这种, 那种, 各种, 几种). Fourth-tone 种 is a VERB — 'to plant, to grow, to cultivate' — and lives in 种田, 种菜, 种花, 种树, 种植, 接种. Quick rule: if it counts or names a kind, it's zhǒng; if it's an action you do to a plant or a vaccine, it's zhòng.

usage

As a classifier, 种 counts categories rather than physical items: 三种颜色 ('three kinds of color') vs 三个颜色 ('three specific colors'). Use it whenever the count is over varieties, options, methods, or species, not over individual objects.

Components

radical

禾 hé

grain; cereal

Left indexing grain radical 禾 — pictograph of a stalk of grain bent under its ripe head. Anchors 种 in the agriculture family alongside 稻 (rice), 秋 (autumn, the harvest season), 秒 (second, originally a tiny grain), 科 (category). Seeds and species both come down to grain in classical thought.

phonetic

中 zhōng

middle (here phonetic)

Right 中 supplies the sound (zhōng to zhǒng with tone shift). 中 itself depicts a banner pierced through the center, lending a faint sense of 'core, essence' — the seed at the heart of the grain. Pure phonetic in modern 种; same family: 钟 (bell), 仲 (middle brother), 忠 (loyal, middle of the heart).