Chinese word

栽

Pronunciation

Pinyinzāi

Meaning

  • verbplant

Example

我在院子里栽树。wǒ zài yuàn zi lǐ zāi shù

I plant a tree in the yard.

Illustration for 栽 (plant)

More examples

早晨她在阳台上给刚栽的花浇水。zǎo chén tā zài yáng tái shàng gěi gāng zāi de huā jiāo shuǐ

In the morning, she waters the flowers she just planted on the balcony.

Core concept

Make something upright and rooted by forcing it down, an image that also describes a sudden heavy fall.

Common phrases

  • 栽树zāi shù

    plant trees

  • 栽花zāi huā

    plant flowers

  • 栽菜zāi cài

    plant vegetables

Similar words

种zhǒng: Begin growing a plant by putting a seed or seedling into the soil.
种植zhòng zhí: Plant and cultivate seeds or seedlings in fields or flower beds.
移植yí zhí: Move a growing plant to another place so it can take root there.
播种bō zhǒng: Sow small seeds in the soil so they can sprout.

Definition in Chinese

把幼苗或树木插入土中并固定，使其在土壤中生长成活的动作或行为。bǎ yòu miáo huò shù mù chā rù tǔ zhōng bìng gù dìng shǐ qí zài tú rǎng zhōng shēng zhǎng chéng huó de dòng zuò huò xíng wéi

Word origin

栽 (zāi, "plant") is a phono-semantic character made from 木 (mù, "wood") + 𢦏 (zāi, "sound element"); the first part points to plants and the second gives the pronunciation.

Usage tips

  • The hard-tumble sense normally describes a person, while the planting sense describes living growth, so the surrounding subject and object help identify the meaning.

Other meanings

  • fall hardverb

Opposites

  • 拔掉bá diàopull outverb
  • 铲除chǎn chúremoveverb

Related words

Word lists with this word