镇 (zhèn) · town; small city

Meanings

1 town; small city
2 to suppress; to put down
3 to calm; to tranquilize

Characters

镇

zhèn

town; to suppress; to calm

Examples

HSK 1

他住在一个小镇上。

Tā zhù zài yígè xiǎozhèn shàng.

He lives in a small town.

HSK 4

他喝了一杯酒镇定了一下。

Tā hē le yī bēi jiǔ zhèndìng le yíxià.

He had a drink to calm himself down.

HSK 7-9

当地政府很快镇压了这次抗议活动。

Dāngdì zhèngfǔ hěn kuài zhènyā le zhè cì kàngyì huódòng.

The local government quickly suppressed this protest.

Tips

usage

As a noun, 镇 means a town smaller than a city (市) but larger than a village (村). As a verb, 镇定 means to calm down, and 镇压 means to suppress/crack down.

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal; gold (radical form)

Left metal radical - the indexing radical. Original sense of 镇 was 'a heavy metal weight pressing things down'. From the literal weight came 'suppress, hold steady, calm' and 'a fortified strategic point' (a town with military weight). Same family as 钱 (money), 银 (silver), 铁 (iron).

phonetic

真 zhēn

true (here phonetic)

Right 真 - supplies the sound (zhēn → zhèn, only tone shift). Same phonetic series as 慎 (cautious), 填 (fill in), 颠 (top). Pure sound carrier; the 'true/genuine' meaning of 真 isn't directly relevant - though a 'true / steady' weight neatly fits the suppress/calm sense.