正 (zhèng): straight; upright

Meanings

1 straight; upright
2 correct; right; proper
3 main; principal
4 to correct; to rectify
5 exactly; just (at that time); right (in that place)
6 positive (math)

Characters

Top horizontal line + 止 (foot) - a foot moving straight toward the marked line, hence 'going correctly, on the right path'.

Examples

HSK 1

正门在那边。

Zhèngmén zài nàbiān.

The main gate is over there.

HSK 1

我正要给你打电话。

Wǒ zhèng yào gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.

I'm just about to call you.

HSK 2

你说得很正。

Nǐ shuō de hěn zhèng.

Your pronunciation is very accurate.

Tips

usage

Three senses to keep straight: as an adjective it means 'straight / upright / proper' (正确, 正直); as an adverb 'just / right now / exactly' (正在, 正好); as a verb 'to correct' (纠正, 改正). Context picks the sense - same character, no tone change.

register

Almost always read zhèng. The single exception is 正月 (first lunar month, and the derived 正月十五 for Lantern Festival), where it shifts to first-tone zhēng. Tradition says this avoidance dates to the Qin emperor Ying Zheng (嬴政) - the calendar month was renamed to dodge his name's reading. Outside the lunar-calendar context, zhēng never appears.

Components

radical

止 zhǐ

foot; stop

Bottom 止 depicts a foot/footprint and is the indexing radical. The foot moves straight toward the line above - 'going correctly, on the right path' - yielding 'correct, just, exactly, upright'. Family: 步 (step), 此 (here), 武 (military) - all foot-built.

ideograph

一 yī

one; horizontal line

Top horizontal functions as an abstract goal-line marker above the foot below - the destination the action aims at. Oracle-bone forms showed a foot marching toward a walled town or boundary; the line is what remains of that target.