查 (chá): to check, to investigate

查 (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 木 (structural) and 旦 (structural). It ranks #459 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to check, to investigate

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 查

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
调查verbdiào cháinvestigation4
检查verbjiǎn cháinspection3
查看verbchá kànto look over4
查找verbchá zhǎoto search for4
查询verbchá xúnto check6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
搜查verbsōu cháto search
查出verbchá chūto find out
追查verbzhuī cháto try to find out
查尔斯proper-nounchá ěr sīCharles
理查德proper-nounlǐ chá déRichard (name)
查明verbchá míngto investigate and find out
审查verbshěn cháto examine
侦查verbzhēn cháto detect
查清verbchá qīngto find out
核查verbhé cháto examine
查阅verbchá yuèto consult
检查员nounjiǎn chá yuáninspector
理查lǐ chá(name) Richard
查尔斯顿proper-nounchá ěr sī dùnCharleston
巡查verbxún cháto patrol
101
Total compounds
49
As first character
39
As last character
13
As middle character

查 appears in 101 compound words: 49 as the first character, 39 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 查 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

调diào
0.61398,572 co-occurrences
检jiǎn
0.60233,088 co-occurrences
搜sōu
0.55217,810 co-occurrences
详xiáng
0.540114 co-occurrences
审shěn
0.52327,706 co-occurrences
筛shāi
0.5174,787 co-occurrences
侦zhēn
0.5155,270 co-occurrences
普pǔ
0.50940,896 co-occurrences
释shì
0.471114 co-occurrences
询xún
0.4716,159 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

波德里查BōdélǐcháHSK 7+

Podgorica (the capital city of Montenegro)

查尔斯顿Chá'ěrsīdùnHSK 7+

Charleston

察布查尔Chábùchá'ěrHSK 5+

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

产前检查chǎn qián jiǎn cháHSK 4+

prenatal checkup; antenatal examination

phrase
健康检查jiàn kāng jiǎn cháHSK 3+

see 體格檢查|体格检查

phrase
明查暗访míngchá'ànfǎngHSK 5+

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

phrase
切片检查qiē piàn jiǎn cháHSK 4+

histopathological examination; biopsy

phrase
人口普查rén kǒu pǔ cháHSK 4+

census

phrase
体格检查tǐgé jiǎncháHSK 4+

physical examination; health check-up

noun
突击检查tū jī jiǎn cháHSK 6+

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

phrase
线上查询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查,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条款调查

. . . 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 警列纵火调查

. . . 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 原因待查

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:踏查重点林区,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查

. . . 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,我们可以检查一下您的行李吗?

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查过了吗?

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

Did you check all the items on the shopping list?

Tatoeba

你最近检查视力了吗?

Nǐ zuì jìn jiǎnchá shìlì le ma?

Have you had your eyesight checked recently?

Tatoeba

这个词字典里面怎么查不到?

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 101 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 查 (chá)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chá: 察 (to observe), 差 (difference), 茶 (tea), 插 (to insert), 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 查 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.