凑 (còu): to gather together, pool or collect, to happen by chance, to move close to

凑 (còu) is a Chinese character meaning “to gather together, pool or collect.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 冫 (semantic) and 奏 (phonetic). It ranks #2143 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 冫 ice11 strokesFrequency #2143冫 semantic 奏 phonetic

Definitions

to gather together, pool or collect
to happen by chance
to move close to

Etymology & Origin

凑

pictophoneticice

Decomposition: ⿰冫奏 (layout: left-right)

Components:冫semantic 奏phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 凑 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
凑合adjective	còu he	to bring together
凑巧adverb	còu qiǎo	fortuitously
紧凑adjective	jǐn còu	compact
拼凑verb	pīn còu	to assemble
凑热闹verb	còu rè nao	to join in the fun
凑近verb	còu jìn	to approach
凑数verb	còu shù	to serve as a stopgap
东拼西凑phrase	dōng pīn xī còu	(idiom) to assemble from bits and pieces
凑足	còu zú	to scrape together enough (people, money etc)
凑份子verb	còu fèn zi	to pool resources (for a gift, project etc)
高不凑低不就	gāo bù còu dī bù jiù	can't reach the high or accept the low (idiom)
紧凑型车	jǐn còu xíng chē	compact car model
不凑巧	bù còu qiǎo	unluckily
凑成	còu chéng	to put together
凑手	còu shǒu	at hand

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

凑 appears in 23 compound words: 61 as the first character, 22 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 凑 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

紧jǐn

0.6202,519 co-occurrences

拼pīn

0.555684 co-occurrences

闹nào

0.47574 co-occurrences

轿jiào

0.47158 co-occurrences

够gòu

0.418172 co-occurrences

齐qí

0.417198 co-occurrences

肠cháng

0.40638 co-occurrences

云yún

0.397246 co-occurrences

昌chāng

0.396244 co-occurrences

钱qián

0.388108 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

东拼西凑dōngpīnxīcòuHSK 7+

to assemble bits and pieces; to gather from all over the place

phrase

七拼八凑qīpīnbācòuHSK 7+

to rig up; to throw together; to piece together

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

大家凑钱给他买了一份生日礼物。

Dàjiā còu qián gěi tā mǎi le yī fèn shēngrì lǐwù.

Everyone chipped in to buy him a birthday gift.

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

“居家打金”,这个热闹不凑为好 | 新京报快评

jū jiā dǎ jīn , zhè gè rè nào bù còu wéi hǎo xīn jīng bào kuài píng

“Earning Money from Home”: It’s Best Not to Get Caught Up in the Hype | Beijing News Quick Comment

東方日報Mar 2026

东方日报C1:汤唯凸肚飘孕味追仔凑“好”字

dōng fāng rì bào C 1 : tāng wéi tū dù piāo yùn wèi zhuī zǐ còu hǎo zì

Oriental Daily C1: Tang Wei Shows Off Baby Bump, Hinting at Pregnancy; Hoping for a Son to Complete the "Good" Character

It之家Mar 2026

松下 Lumix TZ300 紧凑型相机发布:2010 万像素 1 英寸传...

sōng xià L u m i x T Z 3 0 0 jǐn còu xíng xiāng jī fā bù : 2 0 1 0 wàn xiàng sù 1 yīng cùn chuán . . .

Panasonic Lumix TZ300 Compact Camera Announced: 20.1-Megapixel 1-Inch Sensor...

Cool3cFeb 2026

便宜到得凑免运 65W快充特价321元支援1A2...

biàn yí dào dé còu miǎn yùn 6 5 W kuài chōng tè jià 3 2 1 yuán zhī yuán 1 A 2 . . .

It's so cheap that you can make up for free shipping, 65W fast charging special price of 321 yuan, support 1A2...

百度新闻Feb 2026

3000株蝴蝶兰凑在一起干什么?世界花卉大观园新春..

zhū 蝴蝶 lán còu zài yī qǐ gān shén má ? shì jiè huā huì dà guàn yuán xīn chūn . .

What are 3,000 Phalaenopsis orchids doing together? World Flower Garden New Year...

Tatoeba

我们所有人凑份子给老师买生日礼物。

Wǒmen suǒyǒu rén còufènzi gěi lǎoshī mǎi shēngrì lǐwù.

We all chipped in to buy our teacher a birthday present.

Tatoeba

真的凑巧，这两样现在还在维修。

Zhēn de còuqiǎo, zhè liǎngyàng xiànzài hái zài wéixiū.

By coincidence, these two are still being serviced.

Tatoeba

你需要两个才能凑成一对。

Nǐ xūyào liǎng gè cáinéng còuchéng yīduì.

You need two to make a pair.

Tatoeba

玛丽在沙发上凑近了汤姆。

Mǎlì zài shāfā shàng còujìn le Tāngmǔ.

Mary moved closer to Tom on the sofa.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 冫 (ice) component

准zhǔn 冷lěng 冲chōng 减jiǎn 净jìng 凉liáng 凌líng 凝níng 冻dòng 凄qī

Related Characters

冷lěng 净jìng 准zhǔn 冬dōng 凉liáng 决jué 况kuàng 冰bīng 冲chōng 减jiǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 凑 (còu) mean in Chinese?

凑 (còu) primarily means "to gather together, pool or collect." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2143 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 凑 and 展?

凑 (còu) and 展 (zhǎn) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 凑 (close) vs 展 (open).

How many strokes does 凑 have?

凑 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 凑?

The radical associated with 凑 is 冫 (ice). This radical appears in many characters related to ice.

What are the components of 凑?

凑 is composed of: 冫 (semantic), 奏 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰冫奏 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 凑?

Common words with 凑 include: 凑合 (còu he, "to bring together"); 凑巧 (còu qiǎo, "fortuitously"); 紧凑 (jǐn còu, "compact"); 拼凑 (pīn còu, "to assemble"); 凑热闹 (còu rè nao, "to join in the fun"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.

Is 凑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

No. The simplified form is 凑 and the traditional form is 湊.

Practice writing 凑 with real-time feedback

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