(chá): to check, to investigate

(chá) is a Chinese character meaning “to check, to investigate.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #459 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to check, to investigate

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
diào cháinvestigation4
verbjiǎn cháinspection3
verbchá kànto look over4
verbchá zhǎoto search for4
verbchá xúnto check6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
sōu cháto search
chá chūto find out
zhuī cháto try to find out
chá ěr sīCharles
lǐ chá déRichard (name)
chá míngto investigate and find out
shěn cháto examine
zhēn cháto detect
chá qīngto find out
hé cháto examine
chá yuèto consult
jiǎn chá yuáninspector
lǐ chá(name) Richard
chá ěr sī dùnCharleston
xún cháto patrol
100
Total compounds
48
As first character
40
As last character
12
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 48 as the first character, 40 as the last, and 12 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.

xiáng
0.68893 co-occurrences
diào
0.685295,069 co-occurrences
shì
0.64193 co-occurrences
0.637101 co-occurrences
jiǎn
0.61598,545 co-occurrences
diǎn
0.609102 co-occurrences
shěn
0.59682,953 co-occurrences
shāi
0.58514,304 co-occurrences
sōu
0.55353,443 co-occurrences
xún
0.53118,414 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

běn dǐ diào cháHSK 4+

background investigation

phrase
BōdélǐcháHSK 7+

Podgorica (the capital city of Montenegro)

Chá'ěrsīdùnHSK 7+

Charleston

Chábùchá'ěrHSK 5+

Qapqal (an autonomous county of Ili prefecture, Xinjiang autonomous region, China)

chǎn qián jiǎn cháHSK 4+

prenatal checkup; antenatal examination

phrase
jiàn kāng jiǎn cháHSK 3+

see 體格檢查|体格检查[ti3 ge2 jian3 cha2]

phrase
访míngchá'ànfǎngHSK 5+

synonym of 明察暗訪 /明察暗访 (míngchá'ànfǎng)

phrase
qiē piàn jiǎn cháHSK 4+

histopathological examination; biopsy

phrase
tǐgé jiǎncháHSK 4+

physical examination; health check-up

noun
tū jī jiǎn cháHSK 6+

sudden unannounced investigation; on-the-spot inspection; to search without notification

phrase
线xiàn shàng chá xúnHSK 5+

online search

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

海关对所有进口货物进行严格检,确保没有违禁品。

Hǎiguān duì suǒyǒu jìnkǒu huòwù jìnxíng yángé jiǎnchá, quèbǎo méiyǒu wéijìnpǐn.

Customs conducts strict inspections on all imported goods to ensure there are no prohibited items.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...税新变局 涉外人士:审慎应对301条款调

. . . shuì xīn biàn jú shè wài rén shì : shěn shèn yīng duì 3 0 1 tiáo kuǎn diào chá

... New tax changes foreign-related persons: prudently respond to Section 301 investigations

StheadlineFeb 2026

...宿舍天台梯间起火 50人疏散 警列纵火调

. . . sù shě tiān tái tī jiān qǐ huǒ 5 0 rén shū sàn jǐng liè zòng huǒ diào chá

... A fire broke out in the roof stairwell of the dormitory, 50 people were evacuated, and the police arson investigation

東方日報Feb 2026

秀茂坪顺利邨妇人堕楼亡 原因待

xiù mào píng shùn lì 邨 fù rén duò lóu wáng yuán yīn dài chá

The cause of the death of a woman in Shunli Village, Sau Mau Ping, who fell from a building is to be investigated

百度新闻Feb 2026

大理消防开展防火专项行动:踏重点林区,对高火险区..

dà lǐ xiāo fáng kāi zhǎn fáng huǒ zhuān xiàng háng dòng : tà chá chóng diǎn lín qū , duì gāo huǒ xiǎn qū . .

Dali Fire Protection carried out special fire prevention actions: inspected key forest areas and conducted high-fire risk areas:

百度新闻Feb 2026

...:伊朗愿就其核工业和平性质接受任何形式核

. . . yī lǎng yuàn jiù qí hé gōng yè hé píng xìng zhì jiē shòu rèn hé xíng shì hé chá

... :: Iran is ready to accept any form of verification on the peaceful nature of its nuclear industry

Tatoeba

先生,我们可以检一下您的行李吗?

Xiānsheng, wǒmen kěyǐ jiǎnchá yīxià nín de xíngli ma?

Sir, can we quickly inspect your luggage please?

Tatoeba

你把购物单上的全都检过了吗?

Nǐ bǎ gòuwù dān shàng de quándōu jiǎnchá guo le ma?

Did you check all the items on the shopping list?

Tatoeba

你最近检视力了吗?

Nǐ zuì jìn jiǎnchá shìlì le ma?

Have you had your eyesight checked recently?

Tatoeba

这个词字典里面怎么不到?

Zhège cí zìdiǎn lǐmiàn zěnme chábudào?

Why can't I find it in this dictionary?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chá

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 查 (chá) mean in Chinese?
查 (chá) primarily means "to check, to investigate." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #459 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 查 have?
查 is written with 9 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 查?
The radical associated with 查 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 查?
查 is composed of: 木 (structural), 旦 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱木旦 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 查?
Common words with 查 include: 调查 (diào chá, "investigation"); 检查 (jiǎn chá, "inspection"); 搜查 (sōu chá, "to search"); 查出 (chá chū, "to find out"); 追查 (zhuī chá, "to try to find out"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 查 (chá)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chá: 叉 (fork), 插 (to insert), 茶 (tea), 察 (to observe), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 查 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 查 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.