冲 (chōng): (of water) to dash against, to mix with water, to infuse

冲 (chōng) is a Chinese character meaning “(of water) to dash against.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 冫 (semantic) and 中 (phonetic). It ranks #702 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 冲 water. Its radical form 冫 (ice) appears in many related characters such as 冷 (lěng, cold), 净 (jìng, clean), 准 (zhǔn, to allow).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (of water) to dash against
  2. to mix with water
  3. to infuse

Etymology & Origin

冲

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰冫中 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 冲

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
冲动noun/adjectivechōng dòngto have an urge6
冲突verbchōng tūconflict6
冲击verbchōng jīvariant of 衝擊|冲击6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
冲浪nounchōng làngto surf
脉冲mài chōngpulse (physics)
冲洗verbchōng xǐto rinse
冲刺verbchōng cì(sports) to sprint
冲破verbchōng pòbreakthrough
冲撞verbchōng zhuàngto collide
冲击波nounchōng jī bōshock wave
冲走verbchōng zǒuto flush away
冲锋枪nounchōng fēng qiāngsubmachine gun
冲天verbchōng tiān(lit. and fig.) to soar
冲锋verbchōng fēngto charge (at the enemy)
冲击力chōng jī lìforce of impact or thrust
冲绳proper-nounchōng shéngOkinawa (prefecture and island group in Japan)
俯冲verbfǔ chōngto dive down fast
缓冲verbhuǎn chōngbuffer
100
Total compounds
62
As first character
20
As last character
18
As middle character

冲 appears in 100 compound words: 62 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 18 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 冲 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

突tū
0.63340,165 co-occurrences
绳shéng
0.6022,694 co-occurrences
缓huǎn
0.5884,948 co-occurrences
脉mài
0.5864,652 co-occurrences
锋fēng
0.5774,608 co-occurrences
缸gāng
0.5362,208 co-occurrences
俯fǔ
0.5341,518 co-occurrences
击jī
0.52213,028 co-occurrences
腾téng
0.4671,148 co-occurrences
狐hú
0.446970 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

冲锋陷阵chōngfēngxiànzhènHSK 7+

to charge and break enemy ranks; to fight valiantly

phrase
冲昏头脑chōnghūn tóunǎoHSK 7+

to become dizzy (with desire, success, love, etc.); to turn one's head; to lose one's head

phrase
冲积平原chōngjī píngyuánHSK 5+

alluvial plain

noun
冲口而出chōngkǒu'érchūHSK 5+

to blurt; to speak without thought

phrase
臭气冲天chòu qì chōng tiānHSK 5+

(idiom) to stink to high heaven

phrase
横冲直撞héngchōngzhízhuàngHSK 6+

to push one's way by shoving or bumping; to barge about

phrase
怒发冲冠nùfàchōngguānHSK 6+

to be furious

phrase
怒气冲冲nù qì chōng chōngHSK 6+

(idiom) spitting anger; in a rage

phrase
首当其冲shǒudāngqíchōngHSK 5+

to be the first to suffer (attack or disaster); taking the lead; first

phrase
怨气冲天yuàn qì chōng tiānHSK 5+

(idiom) extremely resentful

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

冲字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

chōng zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character "冲" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

東方日報Feb 2026

新春长假尾声至 内地客最后冲刺

xīn chūn cháng jiǎ wěi shēng zhì nèi dì kè zuì hòu chōng cì

The end of the Chinese New Year holiday is the last sprint of mainland guests

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

彭博示警 缓冲期过后祭301永久措施

彭 bó shì jǐng huǎn chōng qī guò hòu jì 3 0 1 yǒng jiǔ cuò shī

Bloomberg warns of permanent measures to sacrifice 301 after the buffer period

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...期间涨逾2%...台股金马年开红盘 蓄势冲关34K

. . . qī jiān zhǎng yú 2 . . . tái gǔ jīn mǎ nián kāi hóng pán xù shì chōng guān 3 4 K

... It rose more than 2% during the period... Taiwan stocks opened in the red market in the Year of the Golden Horse and are poised to break through 34K

百度新闻Feb 2026

大看台|从郑钦文到宁忠岩:冲破欧美垄断 镌刻东方印..

dà kàn tái cóng zhèng qīn wén dào nìng zhōng yán : chōng pò ōu měi lǒng duàn 镌 kè dōng fāng yìn . .

From Zheng Qinwen to Ning Zhongyan: Breaking through the monopoly of Europe and the United States and engraved the Oriental Seal:

百度新闻Feb 2026

南通通州:新年“开机”赶订单 新产能冲刺新目标

nán tōng tōng zhōu : xīn nián kāi jī gǎn dìng dān xīn chǎn néng chōng cì xīn mù biāo

Nantong Tongzhou: New Year's "start-up" to catch up with orders New production capacity sprint to new goals

Tatoeba

魅力冲击视觉,美德征服心灵。

Mèilì chōngjī shìjué, měidé zhēngfú xīnlíng.

Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.

Tatoeba

外交谈判帮助结束了冲突。

Wàijiāo tánpàn bāngzhù jiéshù le chōngtū.

Diplomatic dialogue helped put an end to the conflict.

Tatoeba

许多房屋被洪水冲走了。

Xǔduō fángwū bèi hóngshuǐ chōngzǒu le.

A lot of houses were washed away by the flood.

Tatoeba

这个海滩是冲浪者的天堂。

Zhège hǎitān shì chōnglàngzhě de tiāntáng.

This beach is a paradise for surfers.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 冫 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chōng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 冲 (chōng) mean in Chinese?
冲 (chōng) primarily means "(of water) to dash against." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #702 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 冲 and 种?
冲 (chōng) and 种 (zhǒng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 冫 vs 禾 (same 中 component).
How many strokes does 冲 have?
冲 is written with 6 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 冲?
The radical associated with 冲 is 冫 (ice). This radical appears in many characters related to ice.
What are the components of 冲?
冲 is composed of: 冫 (semantic), 中 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰冫中 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 冲?
Common words with 冲 include: 冲浪 (chōng làng, "to surf"); 冲动 (chōng dòng, "to have an urge"); 冲突 (chōng tū, "conflict"); 冲击 (chōng jī, "variant of 衝擊|冲击"); 脉冲 (mài chōng, "pulse (physics)"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 冲 (chōng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chōng: 虫 (insect), 重 (to repeat), 充 (sufficient), 崇 (high), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 冲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 冲 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 冲 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.