(guī): compass, a rule, regulation, to admonish, to plan, to scheme

(guī) is a Chinese character meaning “compass.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #321 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, observe. Its radical form (see) appears in many related characters such as (jiàn, to see), (guàn, to look at), (lǎn, to look at).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. compass
  2. a rule
  3. regulation
  4. to admonish
  5. to plan
  6. to scheme

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticobserve

Decomposition: ⿰夫见 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
noun/adjectiveguī zérule5
noun/adjectiveguī julit. compass and set square6
verb/nounguī dìngto stipulate4
noun/adjectivecháng guīcode of conduct6
noun/verbguī huàto draw up a plan6
noun/adjectiveguī lǜrule (e.g. of science)5
nounguī móscale5
verbwéi guīto violate the rules6
nounfǎ guīlegislation6
adjectivezhèng guīregular6
noun/adjective/verbguī fànnorm6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
fàn guīto break the rules
dà guī mólarge scale
guī zhāngrule
guī géstandard
bù guī zéirregular
xiào guīschool rules and regulations
guī zhāng zhì dùrules and regulations
guī chéngrules
jiào guīcanon
mò shǒu chéng guīhidebound by convention (idiom)
chén guīoutmoded conventions
guī bìto evade
jiā guīfamily rules
míng wén guī dìngexpressly stipulated (in writing)
chéng guīestablished rules
100
Total compounds
40
As first character
32
As last character
28
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 40 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 28 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.

huá
0.691229,963 co-occurrences
0.684244,547 co-occurrences
0.605116,871 co-occurrences
dìng
0.567244,434 co-occurrences
fàn
0.55663,410 co-occurrences
wéi
0.54120,842 co-occurrences
0.47240,038 co-occurrences
tiáo
0.45331,662 co-occurrences
0.4365,714 co-occurrences
cháng
0.42860,924 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (14)

chángguī wǔqìHSK 5+

conventional weapon

noun
chénguīlòuxíHSK 7+

outdated and objectionable rules and customs

phrase
chūjùguīmóHSK 5+

to have a basic framework and content; to begin to take shape

phrase
guī ju shéng mòHSK 7+

compasses, set square and straight line marker (idiom); fig. established standard; norms; criteria

phrase
guī ju zhǔn shéngHSK 7+

compasses, set square, spirit level and plumbline (idiom); fig. established standard; norms; criteria

phrase
guīmó jīngjìHSK 5+

economies of scale

noun
jiāotōng guīzéHSK 4+

traffic regulations; traffic rules

noun
míngwénguīdìngHSK 4+

to be defined clearly in writing; to be written out in black and white

phrase
mòshǒuchéngguīHSK 7+

to rigidly adhere to old rules or traditions without willingness to change

phrase
线xiànxìngguīhuàHSK 4+

linear programming

noun
xiāoguīcáosuíHSK 7+

to strictly adhere to the policies of the predecessor, to follow precedent

phrase
xúnguīdǎojǔHSK 6+

to keep on the straight and narrow; to obey rules and laws

phrase

Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我们要遵守交通则,确保行车安全。

Wǒmen yào zūnshǒu jiāotōng guīzé, quèbǎo xíngchē ānquán.

We must follow traffic rules to ensure driving safety.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

凌晨2:34 新北坪林区模4.0地震 最大震度汐止2级

líng chén 2 : 3 4 xīn běi píng lín qū guī mó 4 . 0 dì zhèn zuì dà zhèn dù 汐 zhǐ 2 jí

At 2:34 a.m., a magnitude 4.0 earthquake occurred in Pinglin District, New Taipei, with a maximum seismic intensity of Xizhi 2

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

摩通:保荐人新无碍优质企上市

mó tōng : bǎo jiàn rén xīn guī wú ài yōu zhì qǐ shàng shì

Morgan Stanley: The new sponsor regulations do not hinder the listing of high-quality enterprises

三立新聞網Feb 2026

台股金蛇年这7档模翻倍增 吸金力道猛

tái gǔ jīn shé nián zhè 7 dàng guī mó fān bèi zēng xī jīn lì dào měng

The scale of these 7 gears in the Year of the Golden Snake of Taiwan stocks has doubled, and the gold absorption is fierce

百度新闻Feb 2026

扎克伯格与黄仁勋签署超大模协议,Meta将部署数..

zhā kè bà gé yú huáng rén xūn qiān shǔ chāo dà guī mó xié yì , jiāng bù shǔ shǔ . .

Zuckerberg and Jen-Hsun Huang sign mega deal, Meta to deploy number...

百度新闻Feb 2026

学习划建议每日问答丨构建智能化军事体系

xué xí guī huá jiàn yì měi rì wèn dā 丨 gòu jiàn zhì néng huā jūn shì tī xì

Study Planning Advice Daily Q&A丨Building an Intelligent Military System

Tatoeba

你对足球则熟悉吗?

Nǐ duì zúqiú guīzé shúxī ma?

Are you familiar with the rules of soccer?

Tatoeba

请你为我解释则好吗?

Qǐng nǐ wèi wǒ jiěshì guīzé hǎo ma?

Would you please explain the rules to me?

Tatoeba

我们必须遵守则。

Wǒmen bìxū zūnshǒu guīzé.

We must obey the rules.

Tatoeba

你行为应该矩些。

Nǐ xíngwéi yīnggāi guīju xiē.

You should try to behave better.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the see radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced guī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 规 (guī) mean in Chinese?
规 (guī) primarily means "compass." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #321 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 规 and 肤?
规 (guī) and 肤 (fū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 见 vs 月 (same 夫 component).
How many strokes does 规 have?
规 is written with 8 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 规?
The radical associated with 规 is 见 (see). This radical appears in many characters related to see.
What are the components of 规?
规 is composed of: 夫 (phonetic), 见 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰夫见 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 规?
Common words with 规 include: 规则 (guī zé, "rule"); 规矩 (guī ju, "lit. compass and set square"); 规定 (guī dìng, "to stipulate"); 常规 (cháng guī, "code of conduct"); 犯规 (fàn guī, "to break the rules"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 规 (guī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation guī: 归 (to return), 龟 (tortoise), 闺 (small arched door), 瑰 ((semiprecious stone)), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 规 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 规 and the traditional form is 槼.

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.