Where 再 comes from
Two fish 冉 caught on a line 一
How to write 再 (zài, “again”)
再 (zài), an HSK 1 character, means “again”, “further” and “more”. It is a picture-like character. Dictionaries list it under the radical 冂 (“wide”). On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 再见 (“goodbye”), 再说 (“to say again”) and 再次 (“once more”). Japanese reads it sai, “again”, as a JLPT N2 kanji.
- Pinyin
- zài
- Strokes
- 6
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 冂 (“wide”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
As a top-bottom character it splits into 一 (“one”), stroke 1; 冉 (“edge of a tortoiseshell”), strokes 2–6, written the top first.
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆top leftrightwards → downwards
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 6 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| zài fourth tone | again; once more; re-; further; beyond this point of time; (before an adjective) more; then (after sth, and not until then); no matter how ... (followed by an adjective or verb, and then (usually) 也 (yě) or 都 (dōu) for emphasis) | — | 再见 再说 再次 一再 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 68 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 再
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 再 | zài | again; once more HSK 1 |
| 再见 再見 | zàijiàn | goodbye; see you again later HSK 1 |
| 再说 再說 | zàishuō | to say again; to put off a discussion until later HSK 4 |
| 再次 | zàicì | once more; once again HSK 4 |
| 一再 | yízài | repeatedly HSK 6 |
| 再三 | zàisān | over and over again; again and again HSK 6 |
| 再生 | zàishēng | to be reborn; to regenerate HSK 6 |
| 再现 再現 | zàixiàn | to recreate; to reconstruct (a historical relic) HSK 7-9 |
| 再度 | zàidù | once more; once again HSK 7-9 |
| 再接再厉 再接再厲 | zàijiē-zàilì | to continue the struggle (idiom); to persist HSK 7-9 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.
Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: