Kilo Lingo

(zhě) - one who, person who (suffix) in Mandarin

zhě

Traditional: 者

Line drawing of 者
Coloured illustration of 者
HSK 4
#774 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

one who, person who (suffix)

Word origin

者 (zhě) 'the one who' is an old character used as a nominalising suffix. Its early form is debated, and it was borrowed purely for its grammatical function.

Origin
ideograph
Root
者 (zhě), graph of disputed origin used as a nominaliser

Other proposed origins

  • Some accounts read the original 者 as a depiction of burning firewood with rising sparks; others as sugarcane. The grammatical 'one who' sense is a loan use. (者 (zhě))

Stroke order

Stroke order for 者

Examples

Scholars study history.

Reporters cover the news.

The scholar has read many books.

访fǎng

The reporter interviewed three scholars.

The reporter asked a few questions.

者 (zhě) means one who, person who (suffix). It is used as a particle in everyday Mandarin speech.

Where this fits

Appears in 3 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 者.

Used in

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Mandarin · Free printables

者: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "者" (one who, person who (suffix)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 16.