Chinese Character Wiki
曾

céng, zēng

already

Pictograph of a cooking pot. Based on the original meaning "cauldron; cooking pot", now written as 甑. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Evolution

曾 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
曾 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
曾 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
曾 Clerical script Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
曾 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

曾  

céng

already; sign of past; once; ever (in the past); former; previously; (past tense marker used before verb or clause)

曾  

Zēng

surname Zeng

曾  

zēng

great-grand (father, child etc)

Most common words with 曾
Freq.
Word
Meaning

曾

once

曾经

once

不曾

hasn't yet

未曾

hasn't ever

似曾相识

seemingly familiar

Component uses

Sound component in 12 characters (3 verified)

增 層 甑 僧 贈 赠 憎 蹭 噌 繒 缯 罾

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[dz]ˤəŋ

dzong

céng

(adverb indicating past time)

*[ts]ˤəŋ

tsong

zēng

remote (ancestor)


Statistics

HSK level 4

Appears in 68.9092% of movies

588th most common character in movies

463rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

12

Unicode

U+66FE

Shuowen

“曾，詞之舒也。从八，从曰，聲。”


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