锤 (chuí): hammer, to hammer into shape, weight (e.g. of a steelyard or balance)
锤 (chuí) is a Chinese character meaning “hammer.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 垂 (phonetic). It ranks #2711 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 锤 metal. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 钱 (qián, money), 错 (cuò, wrong, mistake), 钟 (zhōng, clock, bell).
Definitions
- hammer
- to hammer into shape
- weight (e.g. of a steelyard or balance)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 锤 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 锤子 | chuí zi | hammer |
| 一锤定音 | yī chuí dìng yīn | lit. to fix the tone with a single hammer blow |
| 流星锤 | liú xīng chuí | meteor hammer (ancient weapon consisting of two iron balls connected by a chain) |
| 纺锤 | fǎng chuí | spindle |
| 钉锤 | dīng chuí | nail hammer |
| 锤骨 | chuí gǔ | malleus or hammer bone of middle ear |
| 铅锤 | qiān chuí | bob of a plumbline |
| 一锤子买卖 | yī chuí zi mǎi mài | a one-off, short-sighted deal |
| 雷神之锤 | léi shén zhī chuí | Quake (video game series) |
| 大锤 | dà chuí | sledgehammer |
| 实锤 | shí chuí | (neologism c. 2014) (slang) solid proof |
| 手锤 | shǒu chuí | mallet |
| 千锤百炼 | qiān chuí bǎi liàn | after hard work and numerous revisions (idiom) |
| 铜锤花脸 | tóng chuí huā liǎn | (Chinese opera) tongchui hualian, a military character holding a bronze mace, classified as a jing 淨|净[jing4] role |
| 求锤得锤 | qiú chuí dé chuí | (neologism c. 2017) (slang) to demand proof of what one believes to be an unfounded accusation only to have irrefutab... |
锤 appears in 29 compound words: 14 as the first character, 69 as the last, and 17 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 锤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
锤刚石是自然界最坚硬的物质。
chuí gāng shí shì zì rán jiè zuì jiān yìng de wù zhì .
Diamond is the hardest substance in nature.
“铁锤图”陷抄袭争议!李四川喊早在用 一搜过去...
tiě chuí tú xiàn chāo xí zhēng yì ! lǐ sì chuān hǎn zǎo zài yòng yī sōu guò qù . . .
贵阳月饼顶流实锤|省医月饼,凭一口火腿酥香火遍全网26年
guì yáng yuè bǐng dǐng liú shí chuí shěng yī yuè bǐng , píng yī kǒu huǒ tuǐ sū xiāng huǒ biàn quán wǎng 2 6 nián
Guiyang’s Top-Rated Mooncake Confirmed | Provincial Hospital Mooncakes: A Crispy, Ham-Filled Delight That’s Been a Hit Online for 26 Years
禾确特:红军快入局轻松扑锤
hé què tè : hóng jūn kuài rù jú qīng sōng pū chuí
Hequete: The Reds are quick to enter the game and easily pounce on the hammer
《战锤40K:行商浪人》“无限藏馆”DLC先导...
zhàn chuí 4 0 K : háng shāng làng rén wú xiàn zàng guǎn D L C xiān dǎo . . .
"Warhammer 40K: Merchant Ronin" "Infinite Collection" DLC Pilot...
川伯赠“铁锤”盼建设台中! 江启臣:北中联手
chuān bó zèng tiě chuí pàn jiàn shè tái zhōng ! jiāng qǐ chén : běi zhōng lián shǒu
Chuan Bo gave a "hammer" to build Taichung! Jiang Qichen: Beijing and China join forces
你到厨房里替我把一把锤子拿来。
Nǐ dào chúfáng lǐ tì wǒ bǎ yī bǎ chuízi nálái.
Could you get a hammer for me from the kitchen please?
这是锤子。不是我的，借一个朋友的。
Zhè shì chuízi. bù shì wǒ de, jiè yī gè péngyou de.
This is a hammer. It's not mine; I borrowed it from a friend.
汤姆从玛丽那里拿走了锤子。
Tāngmǔ cóng Mǎlì nàli názǒu le chuízi.
Tom took the hammer away from Mary.
锤子与镰刀代表共产主义。
Chuízi yǔ liándāo dàibiǎo gòngchǎnzhǔyì.
The hammer and sickle stand for communism.
Character Family
钅 Radical Family — Characters sharing the metal radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 锤 (chuí) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 锤 and 睡?
How many strokes does 锤 have?
What is the radical of 锤?
What are the components of 锤?
What are common words containing 锤?
What characters sound the same as 锤 (chuí)?
Is 锤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 锤 with real-time feedback
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