震

zhèn
verb HSK 7-9 #7,160

Meanings

  1. 1 to shake
  2. 2 to vibrate
  3. 3 earthquake

Examples

HSK 1
Shǒujī zài zhuōzi shàng zhèn le yíxià.
The phone buzzed once on the table.
HSK 4
Zuótiān wǎnshang fāshēng le yì cháng dìzhèn.
There was an earthquake last night.
HSK 5
Zhège xiāoxi ràng suǒyǒu rén dōu hěn zhènjīng.
The news shocked everyone.

Tips

memory
雨 (rain) + 辰 (celestial body) - the shaking that comes with storms

Components

radical
雨 yǔ
rain
Top 雨 is the indexing rain radical - drops falling from a cloud bar, with the four inner dots as the rain itself. Anchors 震 in the weather-phenomenon family alongside 雷 thunder, 雪 snow, 露 dew, 霜 frost. The original sense was thunderclap shaking the air - atmosphere as the source of the shock, hence the rain top.
phonetic
辰 chén
5th earthly branch (here phonetic)
Bottom 辰 supplies the sound - chén shifting to zhèn through regular palatalization, the same drift seen in sister char 振 zhèn shake. 辰 originally pictured a clam opening its shell; today purely phonetic. The whole compound delivers 'sky-shaking rumble' - thunder under rain - which generalised to earthquake and to any deep tremor.

Stroke Order

震 zhèn