唱 (chàng): to sing, to call loudly, to chant

唱 (chàng) is a Chinese character meaning “to sing.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 昌 (phonetic). It ranks #1245 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 唱 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to sing
  2. to call loudly
  3. to chant

Etymology & Origin

唱

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口昌 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 唱

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
演唱verbyǎn chàngto sing (for an audience)4
歌唱verbgē chàngto sing6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
唱歌verbchàng gēto sing a song
唱片nounchàng piàngramophone record
演唱会nounyǎn chàng huìvocal recital or concert
说唱nounshuō chàngspeaking and singing, as in various forms of storytelling such as 彈詞|弹词 and 相聲|相声
合唱团nounhé chàng tuánchorus
唱票verbchàng piàoto read ballot slips out loud
合唱verbhé chàngchorus
唱机nounchàng jīgramophone
二重唱nounèr chóng chàngduet
唱反调verbchàng fǎn diàoto express a different view
独唱verbdú chàng(in singing) solo
伴唱verbbàn chàngto sing backup
高唱verbgāo chàngto sing loudly
歌唱家noungē chàng jiāsinger
领唱nounlǐng chàngto lead a chorus
85
Total compounds
41
As first character
34
As last character
25
As middle character

唱 appears in 85 compound words: 41 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 25 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 唱 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

片piàn
0.647157,988 co-occurrences
演yǎn
0.616279,529 co-occurrences
歌gē
0.602101,839 co-occurrences
翻fān
0.54326,572 co-occurrences
合hé
0.49384,042 co-occurrences
哼hēng
0.484786 co-occurrences
司sī
0.45953,758 co-occurrences
巡xún
0.45426,956 co-occurrences
腔qiāng
0.4513,772 co-occurrences
主zhǔ
0.44585,988 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

唱对台戏chàng duìtáixìHSK 4+

to stage a rival show

verb
夫唱妇随fūchàngfùsuíHSK 5+

the husband advocates/sings and the wife follows; harmony between husband and wife

phrase
高唱入云gāo chàng rù yúnHSK 4+

loud songs reaches the clouds (idiom); fig. to praise to the skies

phrase
激光唱片jīguāng chàngpiànHSK 4+

compact disc

noun
美声唱法měishēng chàngfǎHSK 4+

bel canto

noun
一唱三叹yīchàngsāntànHSK 7+

graceful and pleasant to the ear

noun
一唱一和yīchàngyīhèHSK 1+

to echo each other

phrase

Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing 唱.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这家新开的咖啡店装修很有特色,吸引了很多年轻人。

Zhè jiā xīn kāi de kāfēi diàn zhuāngxiū hěn yǒu tèsè, xīyǐn le hěn duō niánqīng rén.

This newly opened coffee shop has very distinctive decoration and has attracted many young people.

BastillepostFeb 2026

第二集「明星版《唱錢》」 黃洛妍李尹嫣為觀眾贏得逾萬元現金...

dì èr jí míng xīng bǎn chàng 錢 黃 洛 妍 lǐ 尹 嫣 為 觀 眾 贏 dé yú 萬 yuán 現 jīn . . .

Episode 2: "Celebrity Edition of 'Sing for Cash'" Huang Luoyan and Li Yinyan win over ten thousand dollars in cash for the audience...

BastillepostFeb 2026

羅淑佩:部份演唱會內地觀眾佔六成 帶動周邊行業衍生商機

羅 淑 pèi bù fèn yǎn chàng 會 內 dì 觀 眾 佔 liù chéng 帶 動 zhōu 邊 háng 業 yǎn shēng shāng 機

Luo Shupei: Mainland Audience Makes Up 60% of Some Concerts, Driving Derivative Business Opportunities in Related Industries

公視新聞網 PnnFeb 2026

《陽光女子合唱團》票房破6億元 打破《海角七號》18年...

陽 guāng nǚ zǐ gě chàng 團 piào fáng pò 億 yuán dǎ pò hǎi jiǎo qī 號 nián . . .

'Sunshine Girls' breaks $600 million at the box office, breaking 'Cape No. 7''s 18-year...

三立新聞網Feb 2026

上海開唱遭取消抹黑 濱崎步曬維尼帽反擊

shàng hǎi 開 chàng zāo qǔ xiāo mā hēi 濱 崎 bù 曬 維 ní mào fǎn 擊

Shanghai concert was canceled to smear Hamasaki Ayumi sunshine Vinnie hat counterattack

東方日報Feb 2026

黃洛妍神倒模葉蒨文唱功 李尹嫣獻聲贏獎金

黃 洛 妍 shén dǎo mó 葉 蒨 wén chàng gōng lǐ 尹 嫣 獻 聲 贏 獎 jīn

Huang Luoyan's singing skills are modeled after Sally Yeh's. Lee Yinyan's contribution wins her a prize.

Tatoeba

约翰在台上唱了什么歌?

Yuēhàn zài táishàng chàng le shénme gē?

What did John sing on the stage?

Tatoeba

可以唱首披头四的歌给我听吗?

Kěyǐ chàng shǒu pī tóu sì de gē gěi wǒ tīng ma?

Will you sing me a Beatles' song?

Tatoeba

我这个歌唱得好不好?

Wǒ zhège gēchàng de hǎobuhǎo?

Am I singing that song well?

Tatoeba

你觉得琳达的演唱会怎么样?

Nǐ juéde lín dá de yǎnchànghuì zěnmeyàng?

How did you like Linda's concert?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 口 (mouth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chàng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 唱 (chàng) mean in Chinese?
唱 (chàng) primarily means "to sing." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1245 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 唱 have?
唱 is written with 11 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 唱?
The radical associated with 唱 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 唱?
唱 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 昌 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口昌 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 唱?
Common words with 唱 include: 唱歌 (chàng gē, "to sing a song"); 演唱 (yǎn chàng, "to sing (for an audience)"); 唱片 (chàng piàn, "gramophone record"); 演唱会 (yǎn chàng huì, "vocal recital or concert"); 歌唱 (gē chàng, "to sing"). There are over 85 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 唱 (chàng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chàng: 猖 (ferocious), 长 (long), 常 (always), 场 (field, place), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 唱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 唱 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 唱 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.