Abstract: In Shangqiu dialect, zhong has the meanings of "OK, agree, good, great". Combining with the daily corpus, this paper intends to discuss the unique usage of zhong in Shangqiu dialect from two aspects of grammar and pragmatics. In grammatical aspects, the lexical nature of zhong is mainly manifested as verbs and adjectives, and its different lexicality shows different ability of entering sentences. In pragmatic terms, the zhong in Shangqiu dialect has four different pragmatic meanings in daily conversation: （1）It can be used to express recognition and appreciation;（2）Consent may be expressed by the respondent; （3）The answer can also show a weak perfunctory, impatient tone;（4）It can be used for irony. In addition, the evolution paths and directions of different pragmatic meanings of multifunctional morpheme zhong are predicted by using semantic graph model. And the use of zhong in the Central Plains official words in other areas is briefly analyzed.

Key words: Shangqiu dialect, zhong, grammar, pragmatics