(gāng): steel

(gāng) is a Chinese character meaning “steel.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1598 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, metal. Its radical form (metal) appears in many related characters such as (qián, money), (cuò, wrong, mistake), (zhōng, clock, bell).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. steel

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmetal

Decomposition: ⿰钅冈 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
noungāng qínpiano4
noungāng bǐfountain pen6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
gāng tiěsteel
gāng sīsteel wire
gāng guǎnsteel pipe
gāng qín jiāpianist
gāng jīnsteel reinforcing bar
gāng bǎnsteel plate
bù xiù gāngstainless steel
gāng qín shīpianist
zǒu gāng sī(lit. and fig.) to walk a tightrope
gāng kuīmetal helmet
gāng cáisteel (as raw material)
gāng jùhacksaw
gāng tiáosteel bar
gāng zhūsteel ball
liàn gāngto make steel
81
Total compounds
59
As first character
22
As last character
19
As middle character

appears in 81 compound words: 59 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 19 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

qín
0.70753,097 co-occurrences
xiù
0.6925,940 co-occurrences
jīn
0.67012,150 co-occurrences
níng
0.5849,930 co-occurrences
tiě
0.56933,126 co-occurrences
liàn
0.5563,882 co-occurrences
hàn
0.5201,842 co-occurrences
hǎn
0.4999,474 co-occurrences
zòu
0.49611,519 co-occurrences
hùn
0.47710,902 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

bǎiliànchénggāngHSK 4+

to be forged in repeated struggles

phrase
gāng gǔ shuǐ níHSK 6+

reinforced concrete

phrase
gānghuà bōliHSK 5+

toughened glass; tempered glass

noun
gāng tiě gōng yèHSK 4+

steel industry

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

厂每天可以生产五千吨材,供应全国各地。

Gāngchǎng měitiān kěyǐ shēngchǎn wǔqiān dūn gāngcái, gōngyìng quánguó gèdì.

The steel mill can produce five thousand tons of steel daily, supplying various parts of the country.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

举办新春开泰祈福典礼 董事长:“稳定获利...

zhōng gāng jǔ bàn xīn chūn kāi tài qí fú diǎn lǐ dǒng shì cháng : wěn dìng huò lì . . .

China Steel held a New Year blessing ceremony Chairman: "Stable profits...

LtnFeb 2026

对等关税失效 中董事长黄建智:关税战不会因此结束 恐更严...

duì děng guān shuì shī xiào zhōng gāng dǒng shì cháng huáng jiàn zhì : guān shuì zhàn bù huì yīn cǐ jié shù kǒng gēng yán . . .

Reciprocal tariffs fail Huang Jianzhi, chairman of China Steel: The tariff war will not end because of this, and it may be stricter...

InvestingFeb 2026

欧盟称美方或调整铝关税 期待美欧贸易谈判破冰

ōu méng chèn měi fāng huò diào zhěng gāng lǚ guān shuì qī dài měi ōu mào yì tán pàn pò bīng

The EU said that the United States may adjust steel and aluminum tariffs and expect the US-EU trade negotiations to break the ice

NewsFeb 2026

厂赴美设点开出第一枪 API石油管大厂...

gāng hǎn fù měi shè diǎn kāi chū dì yī qiāng shí yóu gāng guǎn dà hǎn . . .

Steel Mill Opens First U.S. Facility API Oil Pipe Giant...

NewsFeb 2026

西屿民宅收假日前夜 突遭3颗弹珠袭击玻璃门

xī yǔ mín zhái shōu jiǎ rì qián yè tū zāo kē gāng dàn zhū xí jī bō lí mén

On the eve of the holiday break, a private residence on Xiyu Island was suddenly struck by three steel pellets that shattered its glass door.

Tatoeba

汤姆有一架琴吗?

Tāngmǔ yǒu yījià gāngqín ma?

Does Tom have a piano?

Tatoeba

我的手指冻僵了,以至于无法弹琴了。

Wǒ de shǒuzhǐ dòngjiāng le, yǐzhìyú wúfǎ tán gāngqín le.

My fingers are so numb with cold that I can't play the piano.

Tatoeba

我想学琴,吉它或长笛。

Wǒ xiǎng xué gāngqín, jítā huò chángdí.

I would like to learn to play the piano, guitar or flute.

Tatoeba

我的嗜好就是弹琴。

Wǒ de shìhào jiùshì tán gāngqín.

My hobby is playing the piano.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced gāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 钢 (gāng) mean in Chinese?
钢 (gāng) primarily means "steel." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1598 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 钢 have?
钢 is written with 9 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 钢?
The radical associated with 钢 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 钢?
钢 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 冈 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅冈 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 钢?
Common words with 钢 include: 钢琴 (gāng qín, "piano"); 钢铁 (gāng tiě, "steel"); 钢笔 (gāng bǐ, "fountain pen"); 钢丝 (gāng sī, "steel wire"); 钢管 (gāng guǎn, "steel pipe"). There are over 81 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 钢 (gāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gāng: 刚 (hard), 纲 (head rope of a fishing net), 岗 ((bound form) hillock), 冈 (ridge), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 钢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 钢 and the traditional form is 鋼.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.