Kilo Lingo

(zuò zài) - to sit at, to sit in in Mandarin

zuòzài

Traditional: 坐在

Line drawing of 坐在
Coloured illustration of 坐在
#701 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

to sit at, to sit in

Word origin

A two-character compound meaning to sit at or to sit in. 坐 (zuò) is an ideograph showing two people (从) on the ground (土, earth), depicting sitting. 在 (zài) means at, in or on, marking location; it is a phono-semantic compound with the 土 (earth) element and 才 (cái) as the phonetic. Together they place the sitting in a location.

Origin
compound
Root
坐 (zuò, to sit; 从 two people over 土 earth) + 在 (zài, at / located; 才 phonetic + 土 earth)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 坐

Stroke order for 在

Examples

He sits on the chair.

We sit in the park and chat.

He sits next to me.

The children sit on the floor and draw.

shā

He sits on the sofa watching television.

Used in

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This word is part of lesson 15.