zhēn
verb

Meanings

  1. 1 to screen; to examine and select
  2. 2 to evaluate; to distinguish

Examples

HSK 7-9
Gōngsī duì měi wèi yìngpìnzhě rènzhēn zhēnxuǎn.
The company carefully screens every applicant.
HSK 7-9
Wǒmen yào zǐxì zhēn bié xìnxī de zhēnjiǎ.
We need to carefully sift true information from false.

Tips

usage
Formal vocabulary for careful selection: 甄选 (to screen and select), (to distinguish, vet), 甄拔 (to select and promote talent). Also a common surname, read the same.

Components

radical
tile; pottery
Right pottery radical, the indexing component. The original sense was the spinning wheel a potter uses to shape clay; from 'shaping and forming' came 'to mold, to assess, to select'. Same pottery family as .
phonetic
yīn
to block up (phonetic element)
Left element supplies the sound - its old reading drifting to zhēn. It contributes no meaning here; the same phonetic appears in and other related characters.

Stroke Order

zhēn