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noun | chuí zi | hammer |
| 一锤定音phrase | yī chuí dìng yīn | lit. to fix the tone with a single hammer blow |
| 流星锤noun | liú xīng chuí | meteor hammer (ancient weapon consisting of two iron balls connected by a chain) |
| 纺锤noun | fǎng chuí | spindle |
| 锤炼 | chuí liàn | to forge (metal) |
| 钉锤noun | dīng chuí | nail hammer |
| 锤骨noun | chuí gǔ | malleus or hammer bone of middle ear |
| 铅锤noun | qiān chuí | bob of a plumbline |
| 一锤子买卖noun | 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noun | dà chuí | sledgehammer |
| 实锤noun | shí chuí | (neologism c. 2014) (slang) solid proof |
| 手锤noun | shǒu chuí | mallet |
| 千锤百炼phrase | 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 role |
锤 appears in 30 compound words: 17 as the first character, 67 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 . . .
"Hammer Diagram" Caught in Plagiarism Controversy! Li Sichuan Claims He's Been Using It for Years—A Quick Search Reveals...
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
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 钅 (metal) component
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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