真

真 · zhēn

real, actual, true, genuine

Entry ↗

Meanings & readings

Meaning & readings

real, actual, true, genuine

Mandarin
zhēn
Cantonese
zan1

Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.

Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese

Readings recorded for 真 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.

Japanese 日本語

Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.

On’yomi · katakana

シン

Kun’yomi · hiragana

ままこと

Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property

シン ま まこと

Korean 한국어

Hanja readings · Hangul

진

Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.

Reading sources explained
진
Personal-name Hanja (N)
Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kHangul ↗ · provisional property

진:N

Vietnamese Tiếng Việt

Character readings · Quốc ngữ

chân

Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kVietnamese ↗ · provisional property

chân

Form & structure

Writing & identity

Unicode
U+771F
Radical
目 · 109
Strokes
10 · Unihan
Residual
5

Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.

Stroke order

10 strokes
真
Strokes
10
Convention
PRC · Make Me a Hanzi

10 strokes in writing order. Play to watch them, or Step through one at a time.

Modern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.

Graphical structure

⿱十具(GHMTV[B])
⿳𥃭一八(JK)
⿱⿺𠃊𥃭八(P)
How to read these symbols

⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.

BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.

Words & connections

Words using 真

Character connections

9 catalogue records include this shape in their first retained IDS. Graphical containment does not imply shared etymology.

Sentence context · 1 matches

关于这件事......我真的不知道。

Concerning this matter... I really don’t know.
Source, contributors & licenses

Mandarin: Tatoeba #400605 · Original contributor: FeuDRenais · Text editors: GlossaMatik · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: GlossaMatik
English: Tatoeba #400602 · Original contributor: FeuDRenais · Text editors: blay_paul · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log

Source text unchanged. Original contributor and text editors are credited from the source log, separately from the current owner.

Sentence entry · words & provenance ↗
Written-form matches; sense and pronunciation are not automatically aligned. Corpus & selection ↗

History & distinctions

Related forms

No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.

Historical readings

Middle Chinese
tsyin · 側鄰 反切 · #401

Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.

Source row & reading categories

CSV line 3443 · tsyin = 臻開三平眞章

Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗

Sources & reference

Evidence & next depth

Source editions & exact scope ↗
Retained Unihan properties
kMandarin
zhēn
kCantonese
zan1
kDefinition
real, actual, true, genuine
kTotalStrokes
10
kRSUnicode
109.5 12.8
kGradeLevel
1
kTGH
2013:1832

Readings across dictionaries

Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
zhēn 1466.110
Small numbers locate dictionary entries; 粵 introduces Cantonese. Includes rare or historical readings. Source notation ↗

Reference desk

Sentences in context

Explore 1 example using 真 ↗

Exact source-spelling matches. Open the reader for dictionary lookups, construction notes and related examples. Occurrence does not establish a particular dictionary sense.

Study this character

Structure & connections

0.10
189dictionary records using 真14forms using this shape1attributed sound links
⿱ Above / below

Shape description
十 above 具 · the shape used in China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Vietnam, United Kingdom (as a variant)
Source notation ^⿱十具$(GHMTV[B])
BabelStone · 2025-06-27. Encoded shape and region tags; graphical analysis does not establish historical function.

Decompose & trace ↗Browse all 189 word records ↗Explore sound families ↗Component search ↗
Retained descriptions & scope

^⿱十具$(GHMTV[B])

^⿳𥃭一八$(JK)

^⿱⿺𠃊𥃭八$(P)

All alternatives are retained. Only the first description drives component search and graphical links. Counts describe this snapshot, not frequency. Evidence and method.