zhèn
verb HSK 7-9 #7,160

Meanings

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

Examples

HSK 1
Dìzhèn
earthquake
HSK 1
Zhèndòng
to shake; to vibrate
HSK 5
Zhènjīng
to shock; to astonish

Tips

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

Components

radical
rain
Top is the indexing rain radical - drops falling from a cloud bar, with the four inner dots as the rain itself. Anchors in the weather-phenomenon family alongside thunder, snow, dew, frost. The original sense was thunderclap shaking the air - atmosphere as the source of the shock, hence the rain top.
phonetic
chén
5th earthly branch (here phonetic)
Bottom supplies the sound - chén shifting to zhèn through regular palatalization, the same drift seen in sister char zhèn shake. 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

zhèn