闸 (zhá) is a Chinese character meaning “a sluice gate or floodgate”. It is written from 门 (door; gate) and 甲 (shell; armour; first of the ten heavenly stems), one enclosing the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “sluice gate; switch”
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Structure
门 + 甲
Enclosing structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（⿵门甲），已对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：门 3 画 + 甲 5 画 = 8 画；声符归属见《说文解字》「闸：开闭門也。从門甲聲」
Memory aid
A gate (门) with 甲 shut tight inside its frame like a hard shell plate. Drop that plate into the gateway and the water — or the current — stops: that is a 闸.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 闸门zhá ménsluice gate; floodgate闸 = zhá
- 电闸diàn zháelectrical switch; master switch闸 = zhá
Go deeper
All readings
sluice gate; brake; switch
a sluice gate or floodgate; a brake; an electrical switch
拦住或放开水流的门；也指刹车装置和控制电流通断的开关。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 闸门zhá ménsluice gate; floodgate闸 = zhá
- 电闸diàn zháelectrical switch; master switch闸 = zhá
Sound component
甲 family diverged
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 闸 mean?
闸 (zhá) means a sluice gate or floodgate; a brake; an electrical switch.
How do you pronounce 闸?
It is pronounced zhá.
What parts is 闸 made of?
门 (door; gate) and 甲 (shell; armour; first of the ten heavenly stems), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（⿵门甲），已对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：门 3 画 + 甲 5 画 = 8 画；声符归属见《说文解字》「闸：开闭門也。从門甲聲」. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 闸 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 闸?
门. 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 闸?
Common ones are 闸门 and 电闸. The reading of 闸 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.