(gēng): to change or replace, to experience, one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided

(gēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to change or replace.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural). It ranks #221 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to change or replace
  2. to experience
  3. one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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
adverbgèng jiāmore (than sth else)4
verbgēng huànto replace (a worn-out tire etc)5
verbgēng xīnto replace the old with new5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
gēng yī shìchange room
gèng wéieven more
gēng gǎito alter
gēng zhèngto correct
biàn gēngto change
gēng nián qīmenopause
zhī gēng niǎoredbreast
dí gēng sīDickens (name)
gèng shàng yī céng lóuto take it up a notch
zì lì gēng shēngregeneration through one's own effort (idiom)
gēng yīto change clothes
gèng shèng yī chóusuperior by a notch
bàn yè sān gēngsee 三更半夜[san1 geng1 ban4 ye4]
gèng shìeven more (so)
gēng tìto take over (from one another)
72
Total compounds
54
As first character
21
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 72 compound words: 54 as the first character, 21 as the last, and 25 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.

duō
0.497341,250 co-occurrences
huàn
0.48448,144 co-occurrences
xīn
0.470297,816 co-occurrences
míng
0.459397,074 co-occurrences
biàn
0.45670,158 co-occurrences
dié
0.4466,630 co-occurrences
jiā
0.444215,844 co-occurrences
hǎo
0.43693,876 co-occurrences
zāo
0.4195,410 co-occurrences
wéi
0.412283,476 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

áogēngshǒuyèHSK 5+

to stay up late or all night

verb
bànyèsāngēngHSK 4+

late at night; depths of night; midnight hours

phrase
chú jiù gēng xīnHSK 3+

to replace the old with new (idiom)

phrase
gēng pú nán shǔHSK 7+

too many to count; very many; innumerable

phrase
gēng shēn rén jìngHSK 4+

deep at night and all is quiet (idiom)

phrase
gèng shèng yī chóuHSK 6+

superior by a notch; a cut above; even better

phrase
gēng xīn huàn dàiHSK 5+

reform and renewal; generational change

phrase
gèngyǒushènzhěHSK 4+

what is more; what's worse; worse still

phrase
sāngēngbànyèHSK 4+

in the middle of the night; late at night

phrase
shàobùgēngshìHSK 3+

young and inexperienced in life; wet behind the ears

phrase
shēngēngbànyèHSK 4+

in the dead of the night

phrase
wànxiànggēngxīnHSK 4+

everything has been completely renovated

phrase

Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè gēng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origins of Chinese characters helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

東方日報Feb 2026

...报A1:新春8日 300万港人外游 市道

. . . bào A 1 : xīn chūn 8 rì 3 0 0 wàn gǎng rén wài yóu shì dào gēng chóu

... Report A1: On the 8th of the Chinese New Year, 3 million Hong Kong people traveled abroad, and the market was even more worried

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...违法...南华早报:3月川习会 华府筹码少了

. . . wéi fǎ . . . nán huá zǎo bào : 3 yuè chuān xí huì huá fǔ chóu mǎ gēng shǎo le

... illegal... South China Morning Post: The Sichuan-Xi meeting in March Washington has fewer chips

百度新闻Feb 2026

...基层|货运列车检车员:迟来的团圆,只为让多..

. . . jī céng huò yùn liè chē jiǎn chē yuán : chí lái de tuán yuán , zhī wéi ràng gēng duō . .

... Freight train inspector: belated reunion, just to let more:

百度新闻Feb 2026

AI“硬控”春节档,电影为何有“人味”了

A I yìng kòng chūn jié dàng , diàn yǐng wéi hé gēng yǒu rén wèi le

AI "hard controls" the Spring Festival file, why is the movie more "human"

百度新闻Feb 2026

俄方称欧洲在乌克兰问题上倾向于延续冲突

é fāng chèn ōu zhōu zài wū kè lán wèn tí shàng gēng qīng xiàng yú yán xù chōng tū

Russia said that Europe is more inclined to continue the conflict on the Ukraine issue

Tatoeba

有什么比失明不幸的呢?

Yǒu shénme bǐ shīmíng gèng bù xìng de ne?

What greater misfortune is there than to go blind?

Tatoeba

喜欢哪个,这个还是那个?

Nǐ gèng xǐhuan něige, zhège háishi nèige?

Which do you like better, this or that?

Tatoeba

春天和秋天,你喜欢哪个?

Chūntiān hé qiūtiān, nǐ gèng xǐhuan něige?

Which do you prefer, spring or autumn?

Tatoeba

英文比日文难吗?

Yīngwén bǐ Rìwén gèng nán ma?

Is English more difficult than Japanese?

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the say radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced gēng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 更 (gēng) mean in Chinese?
更 (gēng) primarily means "to change or replace." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #221 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 更 and 日?
更 (gēng) and 日 (rì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 更 (night) vs 日 (day).
How many strokes does 更 have?
更 is written with 7 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 更?
The radical associated with 更 is 曰 (say). This radical appears in many characters related to say.
What are the components of 更?
更 is composed of: 一 (structural), undefined (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱一⿻曰乂 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 更?
Common words with 更 include: 更加 (gèng jiā, "more (than sth else)"); 更衣室 (gēng yī shì, "change room"); 更为 (gèng wéi, "even more"); 更换 (gēng huàn, "to replace (a worn-out tire etc)"); 更新 (gēng xīn, "to replace the old with new"). There are over 72 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 更 (gēng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gēng: 耕 (to plow), 耿 (upright). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 更 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 更 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.