零
Tap the pinyin to hear it
zero; nought; zero sign; fractional; fragmentary; odd (of numbers); (placed between two numbers to indicate a smaller quantity followed by a larger one); fraction; (in mathematics) remainder (after division); extra; to wither and fall; to wither
- HSK 3.0
- Level 1
- Old HSK
- Level 2
- Strokes
- 13
- Radical
- 雨 +5
- Structure
- Top–bottom 上下
- Traditional
- 零
- Common rank
- #870
- Unicode
- U+96F6
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 零
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 地面零点 | Ground Zero (refers to the site of the World Trade Center destroyed in 9-11-2001 attack) | |
| 地面零点 | ground zero | |
| 零点定理 | Hilbert's zeros theorem (math.); Nullstellensatz | |
| 零号病人 | (epidemiology) patient zero | |
| 一千零一夜 | One Thousand and One Nights; Arabian Nights | |
| 零用金 | petty cash | |
| 公共零点 | common zeros (of system of equations) | |
| 零起点 | from zero; from scratch; beginners' (course); for beginners | |
| 零点能 | zero-point energy (quantum mechanical vacuum effect) | |
| 零点五 | 0.5; a half | |
| 动态清零 | zero-COVID (policy) | |
| 零工经济 | gig economy | |
| 绝对零度 | absolute zero | |
| 零头 | odd; scrap; remainder | |
| 零花钱 | pocket money; allowance | |
| 零下 | below zero (esp. temperature) | |
| 零声母 | (Chinese linguistics) zero initial (the initial of a syllable that does not begin with a c… | |
| 零数 | the part of a number which is discarded when rounding down | |
| 零日 | zero-day (attack, vulnerability etc) (computing) | |
| 零工 | temporary job; odd job |
Sound family
Characters sharing the sound component 令 — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 令 sound part | command, decree, order; magistrate; to allow, to cause | |
| 领 | neck, collar; lead, guide | |
| 冷 | cold, cool; lonely | |
| 岭 | mountain ridge, mountain peak | |
| 邻 | neighbor; neighborhood | |
| 龄 | age; years | |
| 铃 | small bell | |
| 怜 | to pity, to sympathize with | |
| 伶 | clever; lonely, solitary | |
| 玲 | the tinkling of jewelry | |
| 羚 | a species of antelope | |
| 鸰 | lark, wagtail; Motacilla species (various) | |
| 苓 | fungus, tuber; licorice | |
| 蛉 | dragonfly, sandfly; Libellulidae | |
| 呤 | purine | |
| 囹 | prison, enclosure | |
| 拎 | to lift, to haul, to take | |
| 翎 | plume, tail feathers | |
| 聆 | to hear, to listen |