革 (gé): animal hide, leather, to reform
革 (gé) is a Chinese character meaning “animal hide.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 廿 (structural). It ranks #521 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 革 an animal being skinned. Its radical form 革 (leather) appears in many related characters such as 鞋 (xié, shoe), 靴 (xuē, boots), 靶 (bǎ, target).
Definitions
- animal hide
- leather
- to reform
Etymology & Origin
pictographicAn animal being skinned
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 革
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 革命verb/adjective | gé mìng | to withdraw the mandate of heaven (and transition to a new dynasty) (original meaning) | 6 |
| 改革verb | gǎi gé | reform | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 皮革noun | pí gé | leather |
| 变革verb | biàn gé | to transform |
| 革新verb | gé xīn | to innovate |
| 大马士革proper-noun | dà mǎ shì gé | Damascus, capital of Syria |
| 革命性noun | gé mìng xìng | revolutionary |
| 西装革履phrase | xī zhuāng gé lǚ | dressed in Western-style clothes |
| 革职verb | gé zhí | to sack |
| 改革者 | gǎi gé zhě | reformer |
| 改革派noun | gǎi gé pài | the reformist party |
| 登革热noun | dēng gé rè | dengue fever |
| 革命家noun | gé mìng jiā | a revolutionary |
| 革除verb | gé chú | to eliminate |
| 人造革noun | rén zào gé | artificial leather |
| 文化大革命proper-noun | wén huà dà gé mìng | Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) |
| 土地改革noun | tǔ dì gǎi gé | land reform |
革 appears in 83 compound words: 29 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 48 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 革 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (17)
October Revolution; October Revolution Island (an island of Severnaya Zemlya, Russia)
October Revolution; October Revolution Island (an island of Severnaya Zemlya, Russia)
Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing 革.
Example Sentences
技术革新推动了社会的快速发展。
Jìshù géxīn tuīdòng le shèhuì de kuàisù fāzhǎn.
Technological innovation has driven the rapid development of society.
杭州:中国数字革命的心脏
háng zhōu : zhōng guó shǔ zì gé mìng de xīn zāng
Hangzhou: The heart of China's digital revolution
...预算案2026|提早三年扭亏为盈 财政改革倒逼上路
. . . yù suàn àn 2 0 2 6 tí zǎo sān nián niǔ kuī wéi yíng cái zhèng gǎi gé dǎo bī shàng lù
... Budget 2026|Turn losses into profits three years ahead of schedule, and fiscal reform is on the road
吴伟钦促落实公共工程制度改革 加速“大新山”城市转型
wú wěi qīn cù luò shí gōng gòng gōng chéng zhì dù gǎi gé jiā sù dà xīn shān chéng shì zhuǎn xíng
Wu Weiqin promoted the implementation of the reform of the public works system and accelerated the transformation of the "Greater New Bahru" city
小虎解碼:新股改革回顧 ——「大包圍」失效 資本博弈定勝負
xiǎo hǔ jiě 碼 xīn gǔ gǎi gé huí 顧 dà bāo 圍 shī xiào 資 běn bó yì dìng 勝 負
[Translation pending - quota exceeded]
伊朗革命衛隊地面部隊舉行軍演 運用新型武器進行...
yī lǎng gé mìng 衛 隊 dì miàn bù 隊 舉 háng 軍 yǎn 運 yòng xīn xíng wǔ qì 進 háng . . .
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ground forces held military exercises using new weapons...
政治家以揭露政府官员的腐败来推动改革。
Zhèngzhìjiā yǐ jiēlù zhèngfǔguānyuán de fǔbài lái tuīdòng gǎigé.
The politician pushed for reform by denouncing the corruption of the government officials.
这靴是用皮革做的。
Zhè xuē shì yòng pígé zuò de.
These boots are made of leather.
这本书的主题是美国革命。
Zhè běn shū de zhǔtí shì Měiguó gémìng.
This book's main topic is the American revolution.
这场革命已经带来了很多改变。
Zhè chǎng gémìng yǐjīng dàilái le hěn duō gǎibiàn.
The revolution has brought about many changes.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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