猜 (cāi): to guess
猜 (cāi) is a Chinese character meaning “to guess.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 犭 (semantic) and 青 (phonetic). It ranks #1587 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 猜 dog. Its radical form 犭 (dog) appears in many related characters such as 狗 (gǒu, dog), 猫 (māo, cat (CL:隻|只[zhi1])), 状 (zhuàng, (bound form) form).
Definitions
- to guess
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 猜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 猜
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 猜想 | cāi xiǎng | to guess |
| 猜谜 | cāi mí | to answer a riddle |
| 猜中 | cāi zhòng | to guess correctly |
| 猜疑 | cāi yí | to suspect |
| 瞎猜 | xiā cāi | to make a wild guess |
| 猜忌 | cāi jì | to be suspicious and jealous of |
| 猜拳 | cāi quán | finger-guessing game |
| 竞猜 | jìng cāi | to try to predict the outcome of an event (for betting on sports results or for fun etc) |
| 两小无猜 | liǎng xiǎo wú cāi | innocent playmates |
| 猜着 | cāi zháo | to guess correctly |
| 无猜 | wú cāi | unsuspecting |
| 猜度 | cāi duó | to surmise |
| 哥德巴赫猜想 | gē dé bā hè cāi xiǎng | the Goldbach conjecture in number theory |
| 猜不透 | cāi bu tòu | to be unable to guess or make out |
| 猜得透 | cāi de tòu | to have sufficient insight to perceive |
猜 appears in 20 compound words: 65 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 5 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 猜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
你猜猜看，我手里拿的是什么？
Nǐ cāi cai kàn, wǒ shǒu lǐ ná de shì shénme?
Guess what I'm holding in my hand?
...可忍 铁闸贴粗口大字报闹爆 网民凭一细节猜出苦主年纪|Juicy叮
. . . kě rěn tiě zhá tiē cū kǒu dà zì bào nào bào wǎng mín píng yī xì jié cāi chū kǔ zhǔ nián jì J u i c y dīng
川普爆“前总统”私下力挺打伊朗 媒体猜可能是柯林顿
chuān pǔ bào qián zǒng tǒng sī xià lì tǐng dǎ yī lǎng méi tǐ cāi kě néng shì 柯 lín dùn
Trump Reveals "Former President" Privately Supports Striking Iran; Media Speculate It Might Be Clinton
元宵节的习俗有哪些?赏灯猜谜之外还有哪些健康活动
yuán xiāo jié de xí sú yǒu nǎ xiē ? shǎng dēng cāi mèi zhī wài hái yǒu nǎ xiē jiàn kāng huó dòng
What are the customs of the Lantern Festival? Besides lantern viewing and riddle-guessing, what other healthy activities are there?
...EA梳化被“长占” 官方终摆告示牌 网民猜测:方便职员做野
. . . shū huà bèi cháng zhàn guān fāng zhōng bǎi gào shì pái wǎng mín cāi cè fāng biàn zhí yuán zuò yě
... EA sofa was "occupied for a long time" The official finally put up a billboard Netizens speculated: it is convenient for employees to work
...台北市长原因曝光!他对比蒋万安育儿牛肉:猜猜双薪家长挺谁
. . . tái běi shì cháng yuán yīn pù guāng ! tā duì bǐ 蒋 wàn ān yù ér niú ròu cāi cāi shuāng xīn jiā cháng tǐng shéi
... The reason for the mayor of Taipei is exposed! He compared Jiang Wan'an's parenting beef: Guess who the double-paid parents support
你能猜到我有什么吗？
Nǐ néng cāi dào wǒ yǒu shénme ma?
Can you guess what I have?
你猜得出这个迷语吗？
Nǐ cāi déchū zhège mí yǔ ma?
Can you answer this riddle?
我猜想你可能是对的。
Wǒ cāixiǎng nǐ kěnéng shì duì de.
I think perhaps you're right.
我从你的表情猜到你有好消息。
Wǒ cóng nǐ de biǎoqíng cāi dào nǐ yǒu hǎo xiāoxi.
I perceive by your face that you have good news.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 猜 (cāi) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 猜 and 清?
How many strokes does 猜 have?
What is the radical of 猜?
What are the components of 猜?
What are common words containing 猜?
What characters sound the same as 猜 (cāi)?
Is 猜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 猜 with real-time feedback
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