中 (zhòng): to hit (a target)

Meanings

1 to hit (a target)
2 to be struck by (a bullet, illness, etc.)
3 to win (a prize, lottery)

Characters

中

zhòng

to hit (a target)

Examples

HSK 5

他买彩票中了一百万。

Tā mǎi cǎipiào zhòng le yìbǎiwàn.

He bought a lottery ticket and won a million.

HSK 7-9

他吃了变质的食物，结果中毒住院了。

Tā chī le biànzhì de shíwù, jiéguǒ zhòngdú zhùyuàn le.

He ate spoiled food and ended up hospitalized with food poisoning.

HSK 7-9

猎人一枪就命中了目标。

Lièrén yī qiāng jiù mìngzhòng le mùbiāo.

The hunter hit the target with a single shot.

Tips

mistakes

Don't confuse this zhòng reading with zhōng. zhòng is the verb 'to hit' or 'be struck': 中奖 (win a prize), 中毒 (be poisoned), 中暑 (heatstroke), 中风 (stroke), 命中 (hit a target). If the compound is about hitting, winning, or being struck by something bad, it's zhòng - otherwise zhōng.

memory

Picture the arrow piercing the target in 中 - the vertical stroke is the shaft, the box is the bullseye. zhōng (1st tone) is the static 'middle' meaning; zhòng (4th tone) is the active 'hit the middle' meaning. The drop in tone matches the drop of the arrow: same picture, different action.

Components

radical

丨 gǔn

vertical stroke; through-line

The long vertical piercing the box from top to bottom, pinpointing the exact center. The arrow-through-target image gives 中 both senses: 'middle / center' (zhōng) and 'to hit the mark' (zhòng). Indexed under Kangxi #2 丨 (the line radical).

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth; opening; frame

The boxy outer frame, read here as a target or enclosed area rather than a literal mouth. Three strokes form the rectangle that the vertical line will pierce dead-center, setting up the 'middle / center' image.