zhōng
noun #29,867

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 small handleless cup or bowl
  2. 2 goblet (for wine or tea)
  3. 3 dice cup

Examples

HSK 1
Chá zhōng lǐ háiyǒu bàn bēi rèchá.
There is still half a cup of hot tea in the teacup.
HSK 7-9
Tā duān qǐ jiǔzhōng, yīyǐn'érjìn.
He picked up the wine cup and drained it in one go.

Tips

usage
specifically refers to a small, handleless cup. In compound words: 酒盅 (wine cup), 茶盅 (tea cup), 骰盅 (dice cup). It evokes a traditional, often ceramic drinking vessel.

Components

radical
mǐn
vessel; dish
Bottom - pictograph of a footed dish or bowl seen from the side. As the indexing radical it places in the vessel family with basin, plate, small cup, lid. A is specifically a small handleless cup for tea, wine, or shaking dice.
phonetic
zhōng
middle; centre
Top supplies the sound - zhōng read directly through to the parent with no shift. There is also a soft visual reinforcement: the vertical stroke piercing a frame echoes liquid filling a centred cup. Same phonetic appears in (loyal) and (clock).

Stroke Order

zhōng