(): policy, plan, scheme, bamboo slip for writing (old), to whip (a horse), to encourage

() is a Chinese character meaning “policy.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #714 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, bamboo. Its radical form (bamboo) appears in many related characters such as (xiào, to laugh), (, (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth")), (děng, to wait for).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. policy
  2. plan
  3. scheme
  4. bamboo slip for writing (old)
  5. to whip (a horse)
  6. to encourage

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticbamboo

Decomposition: ⿱⺮朿 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nouncè lüèstrategy6
verbcè huàto plot6
nounzhèng cèpolicy6
verb/nounjué cèstrategic decision6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shù shǒu wú cèlit. to have one's hands bound and be unable to do anything about it (idiom)
duì cècountermeasure for dealing with a situation
cè huà rénsponsor
jì cèstratagem
biān cèto spur on
chū móu huà cèto put forward plans and ideas (also derogatory)
shī cèto blunder
cè fǎnto instigate (rebellion etc)
liáng cègood plan
jué cè zhěpolicymaker
qún cè qún lì(idiom) to act in concert
cè yìngto support by coordinated action
cè dòngto conspire
cè shìstrategist
guó cèa national policy
60
Total compounds
32
As first character
55
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 60 compound words: 32 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 13 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

zhèng
0.664540,621 co-occurrences
lüè
0.650121,129 co-occurrences
huá
0.48141,430 co-occurrences
jué
0.45134,182 co-occurrences
zhàng
0.4019,462 co-occurrences
0.39331 co-occurrences
0.38410 co-occurrences
0.37413 co-occurrences
zhēn
0.3553,840 co-occurrences
cuò
0.3493,792 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

chéng jiān cè féiHSK 6+

to live in luxury; lit. to ride a solid carriage pulled by fat horses

phrase
chūmóuhuàcèHSK 7+

to put forward plans and ideas; to give advice

phrase
qúncèqúnlìHSK 6+

to pool the wisdom and efforts of everyone; to work with collective wisdom and concerted efforts

phrase
shùshǒuwúcèHSK 6+

to be at a loss what to do; to feel helpless in the face of some difficulty

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这项政旨在帮助低收入家庭改善生活条件。

Zhè xiàng zhèngcè zhǐ zài bāngzhù dī shōurù jiātíng gǎishàn shēnghuó tiáojiàn.

This policy aims to help low-income families improve their living conditions.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...变局 中经院院长连贤明:重谈台美协定是下

. . . biàn jú zhōng jīng yuàn yuàn cháng lián xián míng : chóng tán tái měi xié dìng shì xià cè

... Changes Lian Xianming, President of the China Economic Institute: Revisiting the Taiwan-US agreement is the last policy

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...还能强多久?新台币盘整静待联准会“华许政

. . . hái néng qiáng duō jiǔ ? xīn tái bì pán zhěng jìng dài lián zhǔn huì huá xǔ zhèng cè

... How long can it be strong? The consolidation of the New Taiwan dollar awaits the Federal Reserve's "Huaxu policy"

風傳媒Feb 2026

...e了?专家指苹果算力、制造太依赖两岸:决近乎失职

. . . e le ? zhuān jiā zhǐ píng guǒ suàn lì , zhì zào tài yī lài liǎng àn : jué cè jìn hū shī zhí

... e? Experts point out that Apple's computing power and manufacturing are too dependent on both sides of the strait: decision-making is almost derelict

百度新闻Feb 2026

美政府移民政支持率创新低 国土安全部发言人离职

měi zhèng fǔ yí mín zhèng cè zhī chí lǜ chuàng xīn dī guó tǔ ān quán bù fā yán rén chī zhí

U.S. government's immigration policy has record low approval ratings, DHS spokesman departs

百度新闻Feb 2026

温暖守护特别划:良田与奶奶的“十年之约”

wēn nuǎn shǒu hù tè bié cè huá liáng tián yú nǎi nǎi de shí nián zhī yāo

Warm Guardian Special Program: Yoshida's "Ten-Year Pact" with Grandma

Tatoeba

这个议案合符我们的政内容。

Zhège yì'àn hé fú wǒmen de zhèngcè nèiróng.

This measure is in accord with our policy.

Tatoeba

这个政导致物价大幅度的上升。

Zhège zhèngcè dǎozhì wùjià dàfúdù de shàngshēng.

This policy resulted in a great rise in prices.

Tatoeba

希望不是一种略。

Xīwàng bù shì yīzhǒng cèlüè.

Hope is not a strategy.

Tatoeba

该政在两种意见之间摇摆。

Gāi zhèngcè zài liǎng zhǒng yìjiàn zhījiān yáobǎi.

The policy fluctuated between two opinions.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 策 (cè) mean in Chinese?
策 (cè) primarily means "policy." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #714 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 策 and 刺?
策 (cè) and 刺 (cì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 竹 vs 刂 (same 朿 component).
How many strokes does 策 have?
策 is written with 12 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 策?
The radical associated with 策 is 竹 (bamboo). This radical appears in many characters related to bamboo.
What are the components of 策?
策 is composed of: ⺮ (semantic), 朿 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⺮朿 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 策?
Common words with 策 include: 策略 (cè lüè, "strategy"); 策划 (cè huà, "to plot"); 政策 (zhèng cè, "policy"); 决策 (jué cè, "strategic decision"); 束手无策 (shù shǒu wú cè, "lit. to have one's hands bound and be unable to do anything about it (idiom)"). There are over 60 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 策 (cè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cè: 册 (book), 侧 (the side), 厕 ((bound form) restroom), 测 (to survey). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 策 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 策 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.