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制作 (zhì zuò) — to make; to manufacture

Definition

制作 means 'to make' — works for both physical products (furniture, tools) and crafted items (videos, documents, cakes). Broader and more hands-on than 制造 (factory-scale manufacturing) and 造 (building, inventing).

verb
to maketo manufacture

Examples

  • 制作。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī zhì zuò gāo zhì liàng de jiā jù.
    This company makes high-quality furniture.
  • 制作。
    Tā huā le yí gè xià wǔ zhì zuò dàn gāo.
    He spent an afternoon making a cake.
  • 制作。
    Wǒ men xū yào zhì zuò yí gè guǎng gào shì pín.
    We need to make an advertisement video.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

制zhìmake
作zuòmake

Both 制 and 作 mean to make or do, so together they mean producing something.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The form 制 pairs 朱 (tree) with 刀 (knife), showing the act of cutting a tree.

Open 制 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà作zuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Industry & Manufacturing2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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