Kilo Lingo

(zhèng) - just (now), right in the middle of; upright, correct, main in Mandarin

zhèng

Traditional: 正

Line drawing of 正
Coloured illustration of 正
HSK 3
#512 of 5,000 Core 1000

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

Stroke order for 正

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.

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Appears in 9 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 正.

正在zhèng zàicurrently, right now, in the process of真正zhēn zhènggenuine, true, real, authentic正常zhèng chángnormal, regular, ordinary方正fāng zhènganyway, in any case, upright反正fǎn zhènganyway, in any case, regardless正确zhèng quècorrect, accurate, right正是zhèng shìexactly, precisely is正好zhèng hǎojust right, exactly, as it happens正式zhèng shìformal, official

Used in

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Mandarin · Free printables

正: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "正" (just (now), right in the middle of; upright, correct, main): 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 11.