Chinese word

地震

Pronunciation

Pinyindì zhèn

Meaning

nounearthquake

Example

昨天晚上发生了地震，我很害怕。zuó tiān wǎn shàng fā shēng le dì zhèn wǒ hěn hài pà

There was an earthquake last night, and I was very scared.

More examples

社区定期进行地震避难演练，提高居民应急能力。shè qū dìng qī jìn xíng dì zhèn bì nàn yǎn liàn tí gāo jū mín yìng jí néng lì

The community regularly conducts earthquake evacuation drills to improve residents' emergency response skills.

Core concept

A hidden movement beneath the earth makes the solid ground move violently under everything on it.

Common phrases

地震预警系统dì zhèn yù jǐng xì tǒng
earthquake early warning system
地震后重建dì zhèn hòu chóng jiàn
post-earthquake reconstruction
地震避难dì zhèn bì nàn
earthquake evacuation

Similar words

余震yú zhèn: A smaller earthquake that follows the main earthquake.
震中zhèn zhōng: The surface point where an earthquake's shaking is strongest.
震源zhèn yuán: The point underground where an earthquake starts.
震级zhèn jí: A numerical measure of an earthquake's strength.

Definition in Chinese

由地壳内部突然运动或断层滑动引起的地表振动现象。yóu dì qiào nèi bù tū rán yùn dòng huò duàn céng huá dòng yín qǐ de dì biǎo zhèn dòng xiàn xiàng

Word origin

地 (dì, "earth") identifies the ground and 震 (zhèn, "shake") identifies its sudden movement, so the compound means a shaking of the earth.

Usage tips

In everyday Chinese, this noun is often framed as something that happens, while English more freely lets earthquake stand alone as the subject of a report.

Related words

地震灾害dì zhèn zāi hàiearthquake disasternoun
地震带dì zhèn dàiseismic zonenoun