整 (zhěng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

整

zhěng[zheng3]Tone 3

whole

HSK 3

Guru Deep Dive

English · whole

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:16

Writing Balance Rule: Maintain vertical symmetry with the top elements compressing neatly over the bottom component (束).

1. Meaning

Whole, complete, entire

In good order, tidy, neatTo put in order, to straighten, repair, renovate(Colloquial) To fix someone, to give someone a hard time, to mess withExactly (before a measure word)

Adjective / VerbNeutral / ColloquialBound morpheme#completeness#organization#action#repair

Sample Usage

整天
zhěng tiān
all day long
整理
zhěng lǐ
to arrange, to tidy up

2. Sound

/[ʈʂəŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

整

zhěngzheng3

ˇ(214)

=zhěng

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Retroflex

Sounds like: j/dr retroflex sound

UnaspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. Tongue curled up. Tissue stays still.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near hard palate

Final Rhyme

eng

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -eng rhymes with eng in strength or the first part of engine

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'uhng'.

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

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low and rises, just like asking 'Really?' in disbelief.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, it changes to a 2nd (rising) tone.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial 'zh-' with the alveolar-palatal 'j-' or dental 'z-'. Ensure your tongue curls back.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Start at a medium height, dip down low, and sweep up sharply to the sky like a checkmark (✓).

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 16 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Maintain vertical symmetry with the top elements compressing neatly over the bottom component (束).

4. Components

Radical 攴 · Tap Radical (rap, tap, action with hand)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 攴 (indicates action or putting something into shape with hands)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 整 (original sound: zheng)

The top part shows a unified crown, and the bottom part 攴 (tap/hand action) with auxiliary parts represents bringing things together into a complete, orderly whole through purposeful hands.

束 bundle / to tie up
攴 tap or strike / hand action

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

9· Phonetic Root: 正 (zhēng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined a phonetic element related to tidying and 攴 (hand/action) to denote organizing or making something neat and complete.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from the physical act of binding and tidying up to mean 'whole', 'complete', and later extended colloquially to mean 'to fix' or 'to deal with' someone.

The component 束 means bundle, showing firewood tied neatly together into a whole unit.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine using your hands (攴) to bundle (束) firewood into a WHOLE stack, making sure every piece is completely neat and tidy.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

束(shù)

束 lacks the bottom-right action radical 攴 that 整 carries.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他花了一[___]下午的时间来收拾房间。

Clue: zhěng

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting the heavy stroke count (16 strokes) and missing components when handwriting from memory.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 整, what are its two primary functions (adjective for whole, and verb/slang for to arrange or deal with)?

Production: How do you write the 16-stroke character meaning 'whole' or 'to organize' with Pinyin zhěng?

整zhěngwhole

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