才
Tap the pinyin to hear it
ability; talent; sb of a certain type; a capable individual; then and only then; just now; (before an expression of quantity) only; (emphatic, esp. in contrast or correction) really; actually
- HSK 3.0
- Level 2
- Old HSK
- Level 3
- Strokes
- 3
- Radical
- 手 itself
- Structure
- Overlaid 叠加
- Traditional
- 才
- Common rank
- #795
- Unicode
- U+624D
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 才 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
A sprout growing in the ground, representing a budding talent
Components 扌
? unknown part
How to remember it
genius · Heisig RSH #620
— as a component also called: genie, genie in the bottle
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 才
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不打不成才 | spare the rod and spoil the child (idiom) | |
| 江南四大才子 | Four great southern talents of the Ming, namely: Tang Bohu 唐伯虎, Zhu Zhishan 祝枝山, Wen Zheng… | |
| 秀才不出门，全知天下事 | a learned person need not leave his home to know what's going on in the world (idiom) | |
| 自学成才 | a self-made genius | |
| 秀才不出门，能知天下事 | a learned person need not leave his home to know what's going on in the world (idiom) | |
| 大才小用 | variant of 大材小用[da4 cai2 xiao3 yong4] | |
| 人才外流 | brain drain | |
| 才气过人 | an outstanding talent (idiom); surpassing insight and acumen | |
| 高才生 | variant of 高材生[gao1 cai2 sheng1] | |
| 人才流失 | brain drain; outflow of talent | |
| 女子无才便是德 | a woman's virtue is to have no talent (idiom) | |
| 博学多才 | (idiom) erudite and multitalented; versatile and able | |
| 有才干 | capable | |
| 真才实学 | solid learning; real ability and learning; genuine talent | |
| 才高八斗 | (idiom) of great talent | |
| 八斗之才 | see 才高八斗[cai2 gao1 ba1 dou3] | |
| 才识过人 | an outstanding talent (idiom); surpassing insight and acumen | |
| 不才 | untalented; I; me (humble) | |
| 才不 | by no means; definitely not; as if!; yeah right! | |
| 才子 | gifted scholar |
Sound family
These characters use 才 as their sound component — compare how they read.