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verb HSK 4
zēng jiā
to increase · to add · to raise · to grow

Meaning

增加 means to increase or add to an existing amount or quantity. It can be used for both tangible things (money, people, items) and intangible concepts (knowledge, difficulty, pressure). The word emphasizes the action of making something greater in number, size, or degree.

Usage

增加 is commonly used in both spoken and written Chinese, with a slightly formal tone. It often appears in news reports, academic writing, and business contexts. Native speakers use it with objects like 收入 (income), 人口 (population), 难度 (difficulty), or 数量 (quantity). It can take either a direct object or be followed by a complement indicating the amount of increase.

Examples

  1. 01
    这个月公司的销售额增加了百分之二十。
    Zhège yuè gōngsī de xiāoshòu é zēng jiā le bǎi fēn zhī èrshí.
    This month the company's sales increased by twenty percent.
  2. 02
    为了增加词汇量，他每天都背新单词。
    Wèile zēng jiā cíhuì liàng, tā měi tiān dōu bèi xīn dānɡcí.
    In order to increase his vocabulary, he memorizes new words every day.

Characters

Common collocations

  • 增加收入
    zēng jiā shōu rù
    to increase income
  • 增加难度
    zēng jiā nán dù
    to increase difficulty
  • 大幅增加
    dà fú zēng jiā
    to increase substantially
  • 逐渐增加
    zhú jiàn zēng jiā
    to gradually increase

Antonyms

Origin

Both characters 增 and 加 independently mean 'to add' or 'to increase,' creating a compound that reinforces the meaning of growth or addition.

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