给 (gěi): give

给 (gěi) is a Chinese character meaning “give.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 合 (phonetic). It ranks #180 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 给 thread. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 系 (xì, to connect), 累 (lèi, tired), 绍 (shào, to continue).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. give

Etymology & Origin

给

pictophoneticthread

Decomposition: ⿰纟合 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 给

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
给予verbjǐ yǔ(literary) to give6
供给verbgōng jǐto furnish6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
交给jiāo gěito give
送给sòng gěito send
留给liú gěito set aside for
发给verbfā gěito issue
递给dì gěito hand it (i.e. the aforementioned item) to (sb)
付给fù gěito deliver
补给verbbǔ jǐsupply
转给zhuǎn gěito pass on to
配给verbpèi jǐto ration
还给huán gěito return sth to sb
输给shū gěito lose to (sb)
自给自足phrasezì jǐ zì zúself-sufficiency
给养nounjǐ yǎngprovisions
补给品nounbǔ jǐ pǐnsupplies
桑给巴尔proper-nounsāng jǐ bā ěrZanzibar
61
Total compounds
26
As first character
48
As last character
26
As middle character

给 appears in 61 compound words: 26 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 26 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 给 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

补bǔ
0.53910,554 co-occurrences
卖mài
0.5305,268 co-occurrences
予yǔ
0.52624,772 co-occurrences
嫁jià
0.52011,413 co-occurrences
赠zèng
0.4933,776 co-occurrences
赐cì
0.4893,272 co-occurrences
输shū
0.4766,728 co-occurrences
让ràng
0.4646,636 co-occurrences
捐juān
0.4563,744 co-occurrences
交jiāo
0.44722,836 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

家给人足jiā jǐ rén zúHSK 2+

lit. each household provided for, enough for the individual (idiom); comfortably off

phrase
目不暇给mùbùxiájǐ

so many things come into sight that the eyes are kept fully occupied

phrase
人给家足rén jǐ jiā zúHSK 2+

lit. each household provided for, enough for the individual (idiom); comfortably off

phrase
桑给巴尔Sāngjǐbā'ěrHSK 7+

Zanzibar (an island region of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean); Zanzibar Island, Unguja (an island of Tanzania)

自给自足zìjǐzìzúHSK 2+

to be self-supporting and self-sufficient; autarky

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请把这个文件给客户,让他们确认一下内容。

Qǐng bǎ zhè gè wénjiàn gěi kèhù, ràng tāmen quèrèn yíxià nèiróng.

Please give this document to the client and let them confirm the content.

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

...众票选“CP值最高商务饭店”是它!日媒:给人一种安心感

. . . zhòng piào xuǎn C P zhí zuì gāo shāng wù fàn diàn shì tā ! rì méi : gěi rén yī zhǒng ān xīn gǎn

... It is the "business hotel with the highest CP value" voted by the crowd! Japanese media: It gives people a sense of security

Hk01.comFeb 2026

小巴司机派利市给游客!台女生来港看新年烟花感动呼:这趟很...

xiǎo bā sī jī pài lì shì gěi yóu kè ! tái nǚ shēng lái gǎng kàn xīn nián yān huā gǎn dòng hū : zhè tāng hěn . . .

The minibus driver sent a profit to tourists! Taiwanese girls came to Hong Kong to watch the New Year's fireworks and were moved: This trip is very...

百度新闻Feb 2026

繁荣昌盛,越来越好!这个春节听听大家给祖国的祝福

fán róng chāng shèng , yuè lái yuè hǎo ! zhè gè chūn jié tīng tīng dà jiā gěi zǔ guó de zhù fú

Prosperity and prosperity, better and better! This Spring Festival, listen to everyone's blessings to the motherland

百度新闻Feb 2026

金牌,苏翊鸣送给自己最好的生日礼物!

jīn pái , sū 翊 míng sòng gěi zì jǐ zuì hǎo de shēng rì lǐ wù !

Gold Medal: Su Yiming's Best Birthday Gift to Himself!

百度新闻Feb 2026

子弟兵给您送祝福啦,快来签收!

zǐ dì bīng gěi nín sòng zhù fú lā , kuài lái qiān shōu !

Our troops are sending you blessings—come sign for them!

Tatoeba

礼物?给我的?多谢多谢!

Lǐwù? gěi wǒ de? duōxiè duōxiè!

A present? For me? Thank you!

Tatoeba

能不能请你把盐递给我?

Néng bù néng qǐng nǐ bǎ yán dì gěi wǒ?

Could you pass me the salt, please?

Tatoeba

你能再给我点茶吗?

Nǐ néng zài gěi wǒ diǎn chá ma?

Would you please give me some more tea?

Tatoeba

请你给我看一下这条裙子好吗?

Qǐng nǐ gěi wǒ kàn yīxià zhè tiáo qúnzi hǎo ma?

Can you show me this skirt please?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 纟 (thread) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 给 (gěi) mean in Chinese?
给 (gěi) primarily means "give." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #180 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 给 and 接?
给 (gěi) and 接 (jiē) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 给 (give) vs 接 (receive).
How many strokes does 给 have?
给 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 给?
The radical associated with 给 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 给?
给 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 合 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟合 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 给?
Common words with 给 include: 交给 (jiāo gěi, "to give"); 送给 (sòng gěi, "to send"); 留给 (liú gěi, "to set aside for"); 给予 (jǐ yǔ, "(literary) to give"); 发给 (fā gěi, "to issue"). There are over 61 compound words containing this character.
Is 给 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 给 and the traditional form is 給.

Practice writing 给 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.