作
2 readings · tap one to hear it
to do; to engage in; to write; to compose; to pretend; to feign; to regard as; to consider to be; to be; to act the part of; to feel (itchy, nauseous etc); writings; works
- HSK 3.0
- Level 1
- Old HSK
- Level 1
- Strokes
- 7
- Radical
- 人 +5
- Structure
- Left–right 左右
- Traditional
- 作
- Common rank
- #119
- Unicode
- U+4F5C
Sound it out + = · + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 作 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
A person 亻 making something for the first time 乍; 乍 also provides the pronunciation
How to remember it
do · Heisig RSH #940
人 person + saw
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 作
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 动作 | movement; motion; action; to act; to move | |
| 工作 | to work; (of a machine) to operate; job; work; task; CL:個|个[ge4],份[fen4],項|项[xiang4] | |
| 小动作 | bad habit (e.g. nose-picking); petty maneuver; dirty trick; gamesmanship | |
| 大作 | your work (book, musical composition etc) (honorific); to erupt; to begin abruptly | |
| 作人 | to conduct oneself; same as 做人 | |
| 一作 | first author (of an academic paper) (abbr. for 第一作者[di4 yi1 zuo4 zhe3]) | |
| 不合作 | noncooperation | |
| 天公不作美 | Heaven is not cooperating (idiom); the weather is not favorable for the planned activity | |
| 合作市 | Hezuo, a county-level city in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 甘南藏族自治州[Gan1 nan2 Zang4… | |
| 作马 | sawhorse | |
| 天作之合 | a match made in heaven (idiom) | |
| 作家 | author; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] | |
| 性工作 | employment as sex worker; prostitution | |
| 化作 | to change into; to turn into; to become | |
| 合作化 | collectivization (in Marxist theory) | |
| 作手 | writer; expert | |
| 工作面 | (mining) face (as in coalface 採煤工作面|采煤工作面[cai3 mei2 gong1 zuo4 mian4]); (machining) workin… | |
| 天公作美 | Heaven is cooperating (idiom); the weather is favorable for the planned activity (a variat… | |
| 发作 | to flare up; to break out | |
| 作法 | course of action; method of doing sth; practice; modus operandi |