跪 (guì): to kneel
跪 (guì) is a Chinese character meaning “to kneel.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 足 (semantic) and 危 (phonetic). It ranks #2088 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 跪 foot. Its radical form 足 (foot) appears in many related characters such as 跑 (pǎo, to run), 跟 (gēn, follow, heel), 路 (lù, road).
Definitions
- to kneel
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 跪 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 跪下 | guì xia | to kneel down |
| 下跪 | xià guì | to kneel |
| 跪倒 | guì dǎo | to kneel down |
| 跪拜 | guì bài | to kowtow |
| 跪坐 | guì zuò | to sit kneeling with legs folded underneath the thighs and buttocks resting on the heels |
| 长跪 | cháng guì | to kneel as in prayer (without sitting back on the heels) |
| 跪地求饶 | guì dì qiú ráo | to kneel and beg forgiveness |
| 三跪九叩 | sān guì jiǔ kòu | to kneel three times and kowtow nine times (formal etiquette on meeting the emperor) |
| 罚跪 | fá guì | to punish by protracted kneeling |
| 滑跪 | huá guì | (of a soccer player) to knee slide after scoring a goal |
| 跪伏 | guì fú | to crouch (of animal) |
| 跪乳 | guì rǔ | (literary) (of a lamb) to kneel to suckle at the breast (used as a metaphor for filial piety) |
| 跪叩 | guì kòu | to kowtow |
| 跪祷 | guì dǎo | to kneel in prayer |
| 跪毯 | guì tǎn | a prayer mat |
跪 appears in 15 compound words: 67 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 7 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 跪 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
他跪在地上，请求原谅。
Tā guì zài dìshang, qǐngqiú yuánliàng.
He knelt on the ground, asking for forgiveness.
音乐节上男子单膝跪地求婚 下一秒女友也掏出戒指
yīn lè jié shàng nán zǐ dān xī guì dì qiú hūn xià yī miǎo nǚ yǒu yě tāo chū jiè zhǐ
At a music festival, a man got down on one knee to propose—and the next moment, his girlfriend pulled out a ring too
拿铝棒K学妹逼下跪 国三学姊在校状况曝
ná lǚ bàng K xué mèi bī xià guì guó sān xué 姊 zài jiào zhuàng kuàng pù
Senior Forces Junior to Kneel with Aluminum Rod; Details of Junior’s Situation at School Revealed
炎明熹多间食店打卡 网民跪求开吃播
yán míng 熹 duō jiān shí diàn dǎ kǎ wǎng mín guì qiú kāi chī bō
Yan Mingxi visits several restaurants; netizens beg her to start a live-streamed eating show
独/哭求父母原谅 火烧车幸存者连跪3天
dú kū qiú fù mǔ yuán liàng huǒ shāo chē xìng cún zhě lián guì 3 tiān
Exclusive: Begging Parents for Forgiveness—Car Fire Survivor Kneels in Repentance for Three Days
黄国伦回母校获颁杰出校友!见寇乃馨“跪地”喊平身
huáng guó lún huí mǔ jiào huò bān jié chū jiào yǒu ! jiàn 寇 nǎi xīn guì dì hǎn píng shēn
Huang Guolun Returns to His Alma Mater to Receive Outstanding Alumnus Award! Upon Seeing Kou Naoxin, He "Kneels Down" and Calls for Her to Rise
我们都跪了下来祈祷。
Wǒmen dōu guì le xiàlai qídǎo.
We all knelt down to pray.
他们跪了下来祈祷，希望战争快点结束。
Tāmen guì le xiàlai qídǎo, xīwàng zhànzhēng kuàidiǎn jiéshù.
They knelt down and prayed that the war would end soon.
突然，他拿出了一个戒指，跪在地上，向我求婚。
Tūrán, tā náchū le yī gè jièzhi, guì zài dìshàng, xiàng wǒ qiúhūn.
Suddenly, he took out a ring, kneeled on the ground, and asked me to marry him.
Character Family
足 Radical Family — Characters sharing the foot radical
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 跪 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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