充 (chōng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

充

chōng[chong1]Tone 1

sufficient; full; to fill

HSK 3

Guru Deep Dive

English · sufficient; full; to fill

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:6

Writing Balance Rule: The top roof/lid component must arch gracefully over the bottom part, keeping the vertical center line perfectly aligned.

1. Meaning

to fill, full, sufficient

to serve as or act asto act falsely as, to pose as

Verb / AdjectiveNeutral#capacity#extent#action

Sample Usage

手机正在充电。
shǒujī zhèngzài chōngdiàn.
The mobile phone is charging.
水分充足。
shuǐfèn chōngzú.
Sufficiently hydrated / full of moisture.

2. Sound

/[t͡ʂʰʊŋ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

充

chōngchong1

¯(55)

=chōng

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Retroflex

Sounds like: ch sound with a retroflex tongue curl

AspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: Both curled tongue AND explosive puff of air! Tissue MUST fly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate, releasing a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

ong

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ong rhymes with rung

Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'h-' (h) with final '-ong' (oong).

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays flat and high at pitch level 5, exactly like singing a high sustained note in standard speech.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing chōng (retroflex initial ch) with cōng (alveolar c) or zhōng (unaspirated).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat hand level with your forehead, held steady like a high musical note.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 6 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top roof/lid component must arch gracefully over the bottom part, keeping the vertical center line perfectly aligned.

4. Components

Radical 儿 · Legs Radical (legs, human movement)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 育 (conveys the sense of growing, bringing up, or filling to capacity)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 育 (original sound: yù / chóng)

The top part is a variant of a shelter or cap, combined with human legs below, representing a space or container filled up completely from top to bottom.

亠 lid / crown
儿 legs / bottom foundation

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

6· Phonetic Root: 充 (chōng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted a person or container being filled or overflowing. Over time, the glyph standardized into its modern top-and-bottom components representing plenitude and sufficiency.

Semantic Evolution: From physical fullness of a vessel to abstract sufficiency, charging batteries, and acting or posing as something else.

The character bridges physical containment concepts with modern technological terms like 'charging' (充电).

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a person under a protective lid (亠) stretching their legs (儿) because they are completely FULL and satisfied after a huge feast, now ready to CHARGE their energy.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

统

tǒngsystem, gatherUses the silk thread radical (纟) on the left instead of top-bottom structure.

流

liúto flowUses the water radical (氵) representing flowing water.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

育(yù)

育 means to educate or raise (as in 教育); notice the middle structure differs slightly in stroke order and proportions.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我的手机没电了，需要去[___]电。

Clue: chōng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the high level tone (Tone 1, chōng) with rising or falling tones when combining it into compound words like 充足 or 充电.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 充 mean and how is it pronounced with tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to fill / to charge' (chōng)?

充chōngsufficient; full; to fill

Speed:

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