乍 (zhà) is a Chinese character meaning “suddenly”. It is written from ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇑ (vertical stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke), and takes 5 strokes.
Build the character for “suddenly; at first”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇒ + ㇐ + ㇑ + ㇐ + ㇐
Overlapping structure
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
- ㇑ vertical stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+4E4D and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (five strokes: 撇 / 横 / 竖 / 横 / 横)
Memory aid
A left-falling stroke (㇒) drops from the top, a long horizontal (㇐) shoots off it, then a vertical (㇑) plunges straight down — and two short horizontals (㇐, ㇐) flick out to its right, one after the other. Something happens all at once.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
5 strokes
In real words
- 乍看zhà kànat first glance乍 = zhà
Go deeper
All readings
suddenly; at first
suddenly; abruptly; for the first time; at first (as in 乍看, at first glance)
忽然、突然；也表示刚刚开始，如「乍看」。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 乍看zhà kànat first glance乍 = zhà
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 乍 mean?
乍 (zhà) means suddenly; abruptly; for the first time; at first (as in 乍看, at first glance).
How do you pronounce 乍?
It is pronounced zhà.
What parts is 乍 made of?
㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇑ (vertical stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke). The recorded source is: Unicode U+4E4D and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (five strokes: 撇 / 横 / 竖 / 横 / 横). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 乍 have?
5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 乍?
丿. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 乍?
Common ones are 乍看. The reading of 乍 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.