(zhèng) - just (now), right in the middle of; upright, correct, main in Mandarin
zhèngTraditional: 正
Translation
just (now), right in the middle of; upright, correct, main
Word origin
正 (zhèng) 'upright, correct; just now' is an ideograph combining 一 (a line or goal) with 止 (zhǐ, 'foot'), depicting a foot advancing straight towards a target, hence 'straight, correct, exactly'.
- Origin
- ideograph
- Root
- 一 (line/goal) + 止 (zhǐ, 'foot')
Stroke order
正
Examples
，。
I am eating right now, give me a moment.
。
You came at just the right time.
。
This is the correct approach.
。
He was just about to go out.
。
I was just about to call you.
正 (zhèng) has two main grammatical roles. As an adverb it means just at this moment or right in the middle of doing something, typically appearing before a verb (正在做 means is in the process of doing; 正好 means just right or exactly). As an adjective it means upright, correct, or main/primary - contrasting with 副 (fù, secondary). The compound 正在 is one of the most common progressive aspect markers in Mandarin.
Appears in 9 words
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 正.
Used in
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