<p>Although there is an accepted answer, it is better to write another to clarify it.</p>

<p>着 is an variant form of 著. But 著 has too many pronunciations and meanings. So they are functionally separated in two words, 著 and 着. Not all 著 can be written as 着.</p>

<p>In Hong Kong the distinction of 著 and 着 is very clear and they are never mixed up. Cantonese 著 pronounces tsu3 and 着 pronounces tsoek9, an entering tone word (入聲).</p>

<p>著 is about prominent, writing, says, 著名, 名著, 著作.
着 is about wearing, benefit, chess move. 着衫, 衣着, 得着, 着數, 一着.</p>

<p>着, a particle of Written Mandarin Chinese, 看着.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-03T04:28:42.383Z
2015-02-03T04:28:42.383Z
OmniBus
<p>「着」、「著 」are two distinctly different words. 「着 」means wear or clothing as a noun. As a verb, it means wearing 「穿着」or can be used to describe an action being done 「點着、看着」. 著 means authored 「著作」。In the 70s the Taiwanese government amalgamated the two words into one. In Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Japan and Korea, the distinction between these unrealated words remained, and the two characters are not considered interchangeable, as it has been traditionally for thousands of years.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-03T01:39:24.813Z
2018-11-03T01:39:24.813Z
E Li
<p>So here's a wrap up of the comments above.</p>

<p>着 is a Simplified Chinese only† character, so you won't find it in Traditional Chinese dictionaries, unless they explicitly list them. </p>

<p>See e.g. <a href="http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&amp;cond=%26%2330528%3B&amp;pieceLen=50&amp;fld=1&amp;cat=&amp;imgFont=1" rel="nofollow">教育部重编国语辞典</a>. (找不到, because there is not such character in Traditional Chinese) <em>I assume that OP uses Traditional Chinese because of the 這 used in the example sentences.</em></p>

<p>† <strong>EDIT</strong>: *As @Stan pointed out above, 着 is used even outside of Mainland China, as a folk alternate form of 著, but it is not considered correct, at least in Taiwanese usage. However it is a proper form as 'zhe' in HK. </p>

<hr>

<p>However, we have 着 in Simplified Chinese where it corresponds mostly to the 著 character that is found both in Traditional and Simplified Chinese. The subtle, yet important difference is that when 著 is distinctively read 'zhù', it is written in both variants as 著 and in this case it doesn't correspond to 着. So 著名 is 著名 even in Simplified Chinese. In other cases - with different readings, like, 站著 (Trad.) corresponds to 站着 (Simpl.)</p>

<p>My theory is that some Simplified Chinese users are not aware of this use case and assume a 100% Simplified-Traditional correspondence between the two characters or even automatic ('character-by-character') machine transliteration could have contributed to the wrong assumption that 著名 can be written as 着名. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T14:13:56.160Z
Check [異體字字典](http://dict2.variants.moe.edu.tw/variants/), you will find 着 in many ancient Chinese dictionaries.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T14:17:14.863Z
@Stan I have added your point, see the EDIT: paragraph.
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T14:33:59.883Z
Maybe I didn't express it clearly. "着" as `zhe` is the standard usage in HK, so I think it's not proper to consider it *incorrect* in traditional Chinese -- interestingly, ROC before 1949 adopted 着 as well.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T17:26:31.440Z
"Simplified Chinese users ... assume a 100% Simplified-Traditional correspondence between the two characters" This is not the case. On the contrary, as Bolu commented on the question, Simplified Chinese users think them as two distinctive characters and are never interchangeable with each other.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-07T00:03:08.027Z
in premodern Chinese of the sort found in lyrics 着 shows up as a variant of 著 in a variety of contexts - might want to look at 張相's excellent glosses in 詩詞曲語辭匯釋 if you have access to a good university library.  It's quite interesting the number of places the character shows up.
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T14:04:37.793Z
2015-01-06T17:22:13.037Z
2015-01-06T17:22:13.037Z
imrek
<p>Is 着 the same as 著? Can I interchange them, for example:</p>

<p>Is</p>

<pre><code>這位着名的歌手的名字是__
</code></pre>

<p>The same as</p>

<pre><code> 這位著名的歌手的名字是__
</code></pre>

<p>(put a name in "__")</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:28:04.163Z
Is there a 着 character in Traditional Chinese? I don't think so.
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:36:53.577Z
Yes. I'm trying to find it for you now -- I've seen it in one of my friend's Chinese textbook.
54D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:38:07.407Z
着 is a simplified character, you won't find it in Traditional Chinese dictionaries:
http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&cond=%26%2330528%3B&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&imgFont=1
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:39:20.160Z
So both words have the same meaning? I can change it to the other one and it's still correct?
54D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:43:19.183Z
No. Not even in simplified Chinese. 著名 means famous. Here 著 is pronounced zhù and 著名 is written in both Chinese variants (Simpl./Trad.) this way. 着 doesn't have a zhù reading and doesn't correspond totally to the 著 character.
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:44:11.167Z
So there is no "着"...
54D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:45:31.400Z
Ah found something interesting on Wikitionary. Don't know if it's trustworthy or not. Anyway here's the link and I think I already found my answer. http://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/着 ( whoops link doesn't work, try typing the word into the search field )
54D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:45:34.810Z
If you want to say 'zhùmíng' 著名, no.
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:51:34.433Z
Wiktionary is nice but, I wouldn't trust it. I know some people write 着名, but it's a wrong assumptions made by Simplified Chinese users. Even my IME gives 著名 if I type 'zhuming', since 着 has no such reading as zhu.
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T13:52:48.183Z
Thanks. Why not gather your comments and post it as an answer? ;)
54D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T14:05:48.047Z
@DrunkenMaster traditional Chinese has 着 as a folk form of 著. Since Song Dynasty, the functions of these two characters has been differentiated. As the auxiliary word pronounced `zhe`, Taiwan insists on using its "correct" form 著 (then 着 is always obsolete as a variant character in formal writing in Taiwan), but in Hong Kong and mainland China, formal documents should use 着 according to their standards (for HK, it's [常用字字形表](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B8%B8%E7%94%A8%E5%AD%97%E5%AD%97%E5%BD%A2%E8%A1%A8)).
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T14:10:02.077Z
@Stan Nice, but still, 著名 is 著名, even with this alternate popular form of 著.
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T14:11:52.713Z
@DrunkenMaster that's right. I've never seen 着名 either :)
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-06T17:13:19.123Z
in Simplified Chinese, 著 pronounced `zhu` and 着 pronounced `zhe` are completely different, and you can never interchange them.
Bolu
<characters>
着 vs 著? Is it the same
# 着 vs 著? Is it the same

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-01-06)

Is 着 the same as 著? Can I interchange them, for example:

Is

```
這位着名的歌手的名字是__

```

The same as

```
 這位著名的歌手的名字是__

```

(put a name in "\_\_")

**Tags:** characters

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Is there a 着 character in Traditional Chinese? I don't think so.  
> **username_0**: Yes. I'm trying to find it for you now -- I've seen it in one of my friend's Chinese textbook.  
> **username_1**: 着 is a simplified character, you won't find it in Traditional Chinese dictionaries: http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&cond=%26%2330528%3B&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&imgFont=1  
> **username_0**: So both words have the same meaning? I can change it to the other one and it's still correct?  
> **username_1**: No. Not even in simplified Chinese. 著名 means famous. Here 著 is pronounced zhù and 著名 is written in both Chinese variants (Simpl./Trad.) this way. 着 doesn't have a zhù reading and doesn't correspond totally to the 著 character.  
> **username_0**: So there is no "着"...  
> **username_0**: Ah found something interesting on Wikitionary. Don't know if it's trustworthy or not. Anyway here's the link and I think I already found my answer. http://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/着 ( whoops link doesn't work, try typing the word into the search field )  
> **username_1**: If you want to say 'zhùmíng' 著名, no.  
> **username_1**: Wiktionary is nice but, I wouldn't trust it. I know some people write 着名, but it's a wrong assumptions made by Simplified Chinese users. Even my IME gives 著名 if I type 'zhuming', since 着 has no such reading as zhu.  
> **username_0**: Thanks. Why not gather your comments and post it as an answer? ;)  
> **username_2**: @DrunkenMaster traditional Chinese has 着 as a folk form of 著. Since Song Dynasty, the functions of these two characters has been differentiated. As the auxiliary word pronounced `zhe`, Taiwan insists on using its "correct" form 著 (then 着 is always obsolete as a variant character in formal writing in Taiwan), but in Hong Kong and mainland China, formal documents should use 着 according to their standards (for HK, it's [常用字字形表](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B8%B8%E7%94%A8%E5%AD%97%E5%AD%97%E5%BD%A2%E8%A1%A8)).  
> **username_1**: @username_2 Nice, but still, 著名 is 著名, even with this alternate popular form of 著.  
> **username_2**: @DrunkenMaster that's right. I've never seen 着名 either :)  
> **username_3**: in Simplified Chinese, 著 pronounced `zhu` and 着 pronounced `zhe` are completely different, and you can never interchange them.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-01-06. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

So here's a wrap up of the comments above.

着 is a Simplified Chinese only† character, so you won't find it in Traditional Chinese dictionaries, unless they explicitly list them.

See e.g. [教育部重编国语辞典](http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&cond=%26%2330528%3B&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&imgFont=1). (找不到, because there is not such character in Traditional Chinese) *I assume that OP uses Traditional Chinese because of the 這 used in the example sentences.*

† **EDIT**: \*As @username_2 pointed out above, 着 is used even outside of Mainland China, as a folk alternate form of 著, but it is not considered correct, at least in Taiwanese usage. However it is a proper form as 'zhe' in HK.

---

However, we have 着 in Simplified Chinese where it corresponds mostly to the 著 character that is found both in Traditional and Simplified Chinese. The subtle, yet important difference is that when 著 is distinctively read 'zhù', it is written in both variants as 著 and in this case it doesn't correspond to 着. So 著名 is 著名 even in Simplified Chinese. In other cases - with different readings, like, 站著 (Trad.) corresponds to 站着 (Simpl.)

My theory is that some Simplified Chinese users are not aware of this use case and assume a 100% Simplified-Traditional correspondence between the two characters or even automatic ('character-by-character') machine transliteration could have contributed to the wrong assumption that 著名 can be written as 着名.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Check [異體字字典](http://dict2.variants.moe.edu.tw/variants/), you will find 着 in many ancient Chinese dictionaries.  
> **username_1**: @username_2 I have added your point, see the EDIT: paragraph.  
> **username_2**: Maybe I didn't express it clearly. "着" as `zhe` is the standard usage in HK, so I think it's not proper to consider it *incorrect* in traditional Chinese -- interestingly, ROC before 1949 adopted 着 as well.  
> **username_6**: "Simplified Chinese users ... assume a 100% Simplified-Traditional correspondence between the two characters" This is not the case. On the contrary, as username_3 commented on the question, Simplified Chinese users think them as two distinctive characters and are never interchangeable with each other.  
> **username_7**: in premodern Chinese of the sort found in lyrics 着 shows up as a variant of 著 in a variety of contexts - might want to look at 張相's excellent glosses in 詩詞曲語辭匯釋 if you have access to a good university library.  It's quite interesting the number of places the character shows up.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-02-03. Score: 1

Although there is an accepted answer, it is better to write another to clarify it.

着 is an variant form of 著. But 著 has too many pronunciations and meanings. So they are functionally separated in two words, 著 and 着. Not all 著 can be written as 着.

In Hong Kong the distinction of 著 and 着 is very clear and they are never mixed up. Cantonese 著 pronounces tsu3 and 着 pronounces tsoek9, an entering tone word (入聲).

著 is about prominent, writing, says, 著名, 名著, 著作.
着 is about wearing, benefit, chess move. 着衫, 衣着, 得着, 着數, 一着.

着, a particle of Written Mandarin Chinese, 看着.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-11-03. Score: 1

「着」、「著 」are two distinctly different words. 「着 」means wear or clothing as a noun. As a verb, it means wearing 「穿着」or can be used to describe an action being done 「點着、看着」. 著 means authored 「著作」。In the 70s the Taiwanese government amalgamated the two words into one. In Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Japan and Korea, the distinction between these unrealated words remained, and the two characters are not considered interchangeable, as it has been traditionally for thousands of years.


---

