政 (zhèng) is a Chinese character meaning “politics”. It is written from 正 (upright; straight; correct) and 攵 (a hand holding a stick; marks an action done to something), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “government; political affairs”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
正 + 攵
Left–right structure
- 正 upright; straight; correct · zhèng sound
- 攵 a hand holding a stick; marks an action done to something · pū meaning
Structure from: 说文解字·攴部: 政，正也。从攴从正，正亦聲。
Memory aid
On the left, 正 "upright" — and it also hands you the sound zhèng. On the right, 攵, a hand with a stick, the part that means an action done to something. Acting to keep things upright: that is government.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 政府zhèng fǔgovernment政 = zhèngHSK 4
- 政治zhèng zhìpolitics; political政 = zhèng
- 政党zhèng dǎngpolitical party政 = zhèng
Go deeper
All readings
politics; government
politics; political affairs; government; administration
治理国家的事务；与政府、政党有关的活动。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 政府zhèng fǔgovernment政 = zhèngHSK 4
- 政治zhèng zhìpolitics; political政 = zhèng
- 政党zhèng dǎngpolitical party政 = zhèng
Sound component
正 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 政 mean?
政 (zhèng) means politics; political affairs; government; administration.
How do you pronounce 政?
It is pronounced zhèng.
What parts is 政 made of?
正 (upright; straight; correct) and 攵 (a hand holding a stick; marks an action done to something), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·攴部: 政，正也。从攴从正，正亦聲。. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 政 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 政?
攵. 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 政?
Common ones are 政府 and 政治. The reading of 政 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.