夯 (bèn): variant of 笨[ben4]

夯 (bèn) is a Chinese character meaning “variant of 笨[ben4].” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 大 (structural) and 力 (structural). It ranks #3023 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 夯 a load that takes great 大 strength 力. Its radical form 大 (big) appears in many related characters such as 大 (dà, big), 天 (tiān, day), 太 (tài, highest).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 大 big5 strokesFrequency #3023大 structural 力 structural

Definitions

variant of 笨[ben4]

Etymology & Origin

夯

ideographicA load that takes great 大 strength 力

Decomposition: ⿱大力 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:大structural 力structural

Stroke Order

Practice writing 夯 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
打夯	dǎ hāng	to ram
齐打夯儿地	qí dǎ hāng r de	in unison and with one voice (dialect)
夯土机	hāng tǔ jī	rammer
心拙口夯	xīn zhuō kǒu bèn	variant of 心拙口笨[xin1 zhuo1 kou3 ben4]
墓坑夯土层	mù kēng hāng tǔ céng	layer filled with rammed earth in a tomb pit (archeology)
夯实	hāng shí	to tamp
夯具	hāng jù	rammer
夯土	hāng tǔ	rammed earth
木夯	mù hāng	wooden tamp
夯汉	hāng hàn	carrier who carries heavy loads on his shoulder (dialect)
夯歌	hāng gē	rammers' work chant
蛤蟆夯	há ma hāng	power-driven rammer or tamper
夯砣	hāng tuó	rammer
砸夯	zá hāng	to pound the earth to make a building foundation

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

夯 appears in 14 compound words: 50 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 14 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 夯 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

墙qiáng

0.5561,374 co-occurrences

土tǔ

0.5505,052 co-occurrences

筑zhù

0.4821,830 co-occurrences

窝wō

0.438102 co-occurrences

层céng

0.427768 co-occurrences

锤chuí

0.40136 co-occurrences

砖zhuān

0.38790 co-occurrences

砌qì

0.38260 co-occurrences

抹mā

0.38160 co-occurrences

厚hòu

0.376210 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

心拙口夯xīn zhuō kǒu bènHSK 7+

variant of 心拙口笨[xin1 zhuo1 kou3 ben4]

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

夯字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

bèn zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "夯" is not used very often in everyday life.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美股交易夯元月复委托交易金额冲上1.5兆元新高

měi gǔ jiāo yì bèn yuán yuè fù wěi tuō jiāo yì jīn é chōng shàng 1 . 5 zhào yuán xīn gāo

U.S. stock trading rammed The amount of re-entrusted transactions in January rushed to a new high of 1.5 trillion yuan

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

快闪限量送!台南超夯菜市鸭、夜市鸭变身“鸭力爆表小提灯”

kuài shǎn xiàn liàng sòng ! tái nán chāo bèn cài shì yā , yè shì yā biàn shēn yā lì bào biǎo xiǎo tí dēng

Pop-up limited edition! Tainan super rammed vegetable market duck and night market duck transformed into "duck power explosive lantern"

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

全台最夯熟客制寿司“鮨天本”插旗伦敦海外餐价...

quán tái zuì bèn shú kè zhì shòu sī 鮨 tiān běn chā qí lún dūn hǎi wài cān jià . . .

Taiwan's most popular customized sushi "Sushi Tianben" planted its flag in London Overseas meal prices...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

科技年货夯深圳华强北营收增35%

kē jì nián huò bèn shēn 圳 huá qiáng běi yíng shōu zēng 3 5

Shenzhen Huaqiangbei's revenue increased by 35%

LtnFeb 2026

...?赖清德邀五院院长茶叙伴手礼竟是这“超夯战袍”

. . . ? lài qīng dé yāo wǔ yuàn yuàn cháng chá xù bàn shǒu lǐ jìng shì zhè chāo bèn zhàn páo

...? Lai Qingde invited the president of the Fifth Academy to have a tea conversation The souvenir was actually this "super rammed battle robe"

Character Family

大 Radical Family — Characters sharing the big radical

大dà 奋fèn 夫fū 奖jiǎng 奇qí 失shī 太tài 套tào 天tiān 头tóu

Related Characters

大dà 天tiān 太tài 头tóu 夫fū 失shī 套tào 奇qí 奋fèn 奖jiǎng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 夯 (bèn) mean in Chinese?

夯 (bèn) primarily means "variant of 笨[ben4]." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3023 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 夯 have?

夯 is written with 5 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.

What is the radical of 夯?

The radical associated with 夯 is 大 (big). This radical appears in many characters related to big.

What are the components of 夯?

夯 is composed of: 大 (structural), 力 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱大力 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 夯?

Common words with 夯 include: 打夯 (dǎ hāng, "to ram"); 齐打夯儿地 (qí dǎ hāng r de, "in unison and with one voice (dialect)"); 夯土机 (hāng tǔ jī, "rammer"); 心拙口夯 (xīn zhuō kǒu bèn, "variant of 心拙口笨[xin1 zhuo1 kou3 ben4]"); 墓坑夯土层 (mù kēng hāng tǔ céng, "layer filled with rammed earth in a tomb pit (archeology)"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.

Is 夯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 夯 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 夯 with real-time feedback

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