现在

现

現

xiàn

在

zài

now / at present / at the moment / modern / current / nowadays

Characters and words in 现在

现

現

xiàn = xi + an4

to appear / present / now / existing / current

现 = 王 + 见 : Martin Luther King has a project in which he wants to document the current state of the nation. He has a surveillance camera put up in the anthill's bathroom and interviews Marie Curie about her views about the present time.

在

zài = z + ai4

to exist; to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)

在 = 一 + 亻 + 土 : Zorro (z) and Rosa Luxemburg (亻) exist (在) in the airplane's bathroom (ai4). Rosa is in the middle of balancing a flute (一) on her head and on a pile of clay (土). Zorro uses his rapier to inscribe "Z" into the flute, so as to mark that the pronunciation of "在" begins with "z".