存 (cún): to exist; to survive

Meanings

1 to exist; to survive
2 to deposit; to save (money)
3 to store; to keep

Characters

存

cún

to exist; to store; to save

Examples

我要去银行存钱。

Wǒ yào qù yínháng cún qián.

I'm going to the bank to deposit money.

这个文件存在电脑里。

Zhège wénjiàn cún zài diànnǎo lǐ.

This file is saved on the computer.

把行李存在这里吧。

Bǎ xíngli cún zài zhèlǐ ba.

Leave your luggage here.

Tips

usage

存钱 = deposit money; 取钱 = withdraw money. These are essential banking terms.

grammar

存 can combine with many words: 存款 (deposit/savings), 存储 (storage), 存活 (survive).

Components

radical

子 zǐ

child

Lower-right 子 is the child radical, originally a swaddled infant with arms outstretched. It supplies a strong semantic anchor: the survival and care of the young — to keep, preserve, save. From there 存 generalises to 'exist, store, deposit' (存在 exist, 存款 deposit, 保存 preserve). Joins 孔, 孙, 学 in the child radical family.

phonetic

才 cái

talent; just (here phonetic)

Upper-left 才 supplies the sound — cái shifted to cún, regular alternation in this Old Chinese series. 才 itself originally pictured a sapling pushing through the ground — beginning to exist. That 'come into being' image actually reinforces the meaning of 存 (exist, survive): something newly sprouted is something now present. Same series: 存, 在.