才
cái HSK2

talent

才 cái frequency
only then conjunction
used to indicate that an action or state occurs only after a specific condition is met

等到天黑以后，他才决定动身回家。

děng​dào tiān​hēi yǐ​hòu, tā cái jué​dìng dòng​shēn huí​jiā.

He didn't decide to head home until after it got dark.

emphatic particle adverb
modal particle used to emphasize that the subject actually possesses the stated attribute or to mark a contrast/correction (similar to 'in fact' or 'actually' in English).
only adverb
used before an expression of quantity or time to emphasize a small amount or a specific point in time

他今年才五岁。

tā jīn​nián cái wǔ suì.

He is only five years old.

just now adverb
indicating that an action or event has occurred very recently

我才听完这首歌。

wǒ cái tīng wán zhè shǒu gē.

I just finished listening to this song.

talent noun
innate ability, talent, or a person possessing specific capabilities or characteristics

这孩子不仅聪明，而且在绘画方面很有才。

zhè hái​zi bù​jǐn cōng​ming, ér​qiě zài huì​huà fāng​miàn hěn yǒu cái.

This child is not only smart but also very talented in painting.

才 (纔) cái
just now adverb
indicates that an action or event has happened very recently

他才刚离开办公室，你现在去追还来得及。

tā cái gāng lí​kāi bàn​gōng​shì, nǐ xiàn​zài qù zhuī hái lái​de​jí.

He just left the office; you can still catch him if you go now.

only adverb
used before an expression of quantity to emphasize that the amount is small

现在才下午三点，我们在这里再坐一会儿吧。

xiàn​zài cái xià​wǔ sān diǎn, wǒ​men zài zhè​lǐ zài zuò yī​huì​r ba.

It's only three in the afternoon; let's sit here for a while longer.

Frequency
Character
Written text
235th most common 939.1 per million
Movie subtitles
179th most common 983.0 per million appears in 99% of films
Word
Movie subtitles
1094.5 per million appears in 97% of films
Written text
593.0 per million

Details
HSK 2.0
Level 3
HSK 3.0
Level 2
Traditional
纔
Strokes
3
Unicode
U+624D

Sources
Definitions
CC-CEDICT
Frequency data
MTSU Chinese text computingSUBTLEX-CHBCC Corpus (BLCU)