My least favorite Chinese character: 着 (著)
My least favorite Chinese character is 着 (著) because its many pronunciations are always tripping me up 😭
【1】 着（著）zhe - aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state
【2】 着（著）zháo - to touch / to come in contact with / to feel / to be affected by / to catch fire / to burn / (coll.) to fall asleep / (after a verb) hitting the mark / succeeding in
【3】 着（著）zhuó - to wear (clothes) / to contact / to use / to apply
【4】 着（著）zhāo - (chess) move / trick / all right! / (dialect) to add
If you're learning traditional characters, you’ve got a 5th pronunciation to contend with.
【5】 著 zhù - to make known / to show / to prove / to write / book / outstanding
Some words have multiple pronunciations for different varieties or standard vs. colloquial speech. I'm always second guessing myself with these words.
着想（著想）zhuóxiǎng or zháoxiǎng - to give thought (to others) / to consider (other people's needs)
着落（著落）zhuóluò or zháoluò - whereabouts / place to settle / reliable source (of funds etc) / (of responsibility for a matter) to rest with sb / settlement / solution
着急（著急）zháojí or zhāojí - to worry; to feel anxious / to feel a sense of urgency; to be in a hurry
着凉（著涼）zháoliáng or zhāoliáng - to catch cold
怎么着（怎麼著）zěnmezhāo or zěnmezhe - what? / how? / how about? / whatever
Zháo vs. zhuó is quite tricky for me. When I see a brand new word, I will usually guess zhuó but am not very confident.
That being said, the worst offender IMO is 穿着 (穿著). Is it chuānzhe (wearing) or chuānzhuó (attire)? This one has tripped me up so many times.
对我来说，穿着打扮很重要。 -> chuānzhuó
Usually I can figure it out from context, but if I'm confused about other parts of the sentence, I struggle with the pronunciation.
I'm not fully grasping the meaning of 小气 here, so I'm not sure if 穿着 is chuānzhe or chuānzhuó 🥲 Honestly I would have guessed the first one is chuānzhe and the second is chuānzhuó, but I feel like that doesn't make any sense 🆘
Definitions are adapted from MDBG.
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