过 (guò): to pass, past

过 (guò) is a Chinese character meaning “to pass, past.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 辶 (semantic) and 寸 (structural). It ranks #46 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 过 walk. Its radical form 辶 (walk) appears in many related characters such as 边 (biān, side), 还 (hái, still, return), 这 (zhè, this).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to pass, past

Etymology & Origin

过

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶寸 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 过

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
不过conjunction/adverbbù guòonly4
过来verbguò láito come over2
过去verbguò qù(in the) past2
通过verb/prepositiontōng guòto pass through4
经过verb/nounjīng guòto pass3
错过verbcuò guòto miss (train, opportunity etc)4
超过verbchāo guòto surpass4
过程nounguò chéngcourse of events4
难过adjectivenán guòto feel sad3
过分adjectiveguò fènexcessive5
穿过verbchuān guòto pass through6
过敏verbguò mǐn(medicine) allergic5
过度adjectiveguò dùexcessive5
路过verblù guòto pass by4
过于adverbguò yúexcessively5
透过verbtòu guòto pass through6
过时verb/adjectiveguò shíold-fashioned6
过期verbguò qīto be overdue5
过节verbguò jiéto celebrate a festival3
过后nounguò hòuafter the event6
过渡verbguò dùto cross over (by ferry)6
过年verbguò niánto celebrate the Chinese New Year2

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
只不过conjunctionzhǐ bu guòonly
度过verbdù guòto pass
过夜verbguò yèto spend the night
过世verbguò shìto die
走过zǒu guòto walk past
过量adjectiveguò liàngexcessive
胜过verbshèng guòto excel
渡过verbdù guòto cross over
过错nounguò cuòmistake
过人verbguò rénto surpass others
越过verbyuè guòto cross over
过失nounguò shīerror
罪过nounzuì guosin
116
Total compounds
61
As first character
34
As last character
5
As middle character

过 appears in 116 compound words: 61 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 5 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 过 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

超chāo
0.59995,970 co-occurrences
通tōng
0.580362,035 co-occurrences
经jīng
0.578109,760 co-occurrences
程chéng
0.552109,116 co-occurrences
滤lǜ
0.4826,240 co-occurrences
穿chuān
0.46316,648 co-occurrences
渡dù
0.43919,378 co-occurrences
不bù
0.41593,214 co-occurrences
洼wā
0.39220 co-occurrences
绕rào
0.3833,430 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (40)

闭门思过bìménsīguòHSK 5+

to shut oneself away and reflect on one’s mistakes

phrase
不过如此bù guò rú cǐHSK 4+

(idiom) nothing more than this; that's all; no big deal; not very impressive

phrase
擦肩而过cājiān'érguòHSK 6+

to brush past (someone, opportunity, death, etc.)

phrase
擦身而过cāshēn'érguòHSK 4+

to brush past (someone, opportunity, death, etc.)

phrase
才识过人cáishíguòrénHSK 3+

to be gifted with talent and insight far beyond the average person

phrase
操之过急cāozhīguòjíHSK 4+

to act with undue haste; to act rashly

phrase
朝过夕改zhāo guò xī gǎiHSK 5+

to correct in the evening a fault of the morning (idiom); to quickly amend one's ways

phrase
大喜过望dàxǐguòwàngHSK 2+

to be delighted that things are better than one expected; to be overjoyed

phrase
得过且过déguòqiěguòHSK 3+

to muddle along; to drift along; to be perfunctory with one's work; to get by however one can

phrase
逢年过节féngniánguòjiéHSK 7+

on New Year's Day or other festivals

phrase
改过自新gǎiguòzìxīnHSK 4+

to turn over a new leaf

phrase
供过于求gōngguòyúqiúHSK 4+

to have an oversupply; the supply exceeds the demand

phrase

Showing 12 of 40 idioms containing 过.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

过去的经验告诉我们,要认真对待每一个细节。

Guòqù de jīngyàn gàosù wǒmen, yào rènzhēn duìdài měi yí gè xìjié.

Past experience tells us to take every detail seriously.

百度新闻Feb 2026

当年轻人成为过年“主理人”,让团圆找到新载体

dāng nián qīng rén chéng wéi guò nián zhǔ lǐ rén , ràng tuán yuán zhǎo dào xīn zài tǐ

When young people become the "managers" of the New Year, let the reunion find a new carrier

百度新闻Feb 2026

“泉”在济南过大年丨烟火年味浓!济南芙蓉街客流持续..

quán zài jì nán guò dà nián 丨 yān huǒ nián wèi nóng ! jì nán 芙 蓉 jiē kè liú chí xù . .

"Spring" celebrates the New Year in Jinan丨Fireworks have a strong New Year's flavor! Jinan Furong Street passenger flow continues:

百度新闻Feb 2026

用金牌当屏保,宁忠岩不过是把冷板凳坐热

yòng jīn pái dāng bǐng bǎo , nìng zhōng yán bù guò shì bǎ lěng bǎn dèng zuò rè

Using the gold medal as a screensaver, Ning Zhongyan is just sitting on the cold bench to heat up

百度新闻Feb 2026

「春节海采」今年春节怎么过

chūn jié hǎi cǎi jīn nián chūn jié zěn má guò

"How to spend the Spring Festival this year?

百度新闻Feb 2026

普通人也能开飞机回家过年了?飞2小时油费只要200..

pǔ tōng rén yě néng kāi fēi jī huí jiā guò nián le ? fēi xiǎo shí yóu fèi zhī yāo . .

Can ordinary people really fly home for the New Year? A two-hour flight costs just 200 yuan in fuel...

Tatoeba

你曾经得过重病吗?

Nǐ céngjīng dé guo zhòng bìng ma?

Have you ever had any serious illness?

Tatoeba

你其实有没有看过?

Nǐ qíshí yǒuméiyǒu kàn guo?

Did you read it at all?

Tatoeba

你去看过医生了吗?

Nǐ qù kàn guo yīshēng le ma?

Did you go to see a doctor?

Tatoeba

我们以前没见过吗?

Wǒmen yǐqián méi jiàn guo ma?

Haven't we met before?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 辶 (walk) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced guò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 过 (guò) mean in Chinese?
过 (guò) primarily means "to pass, past." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #46 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 过 have?
过 is written with 6 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 过?
The radical associated with 过 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 过?
过 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 寸 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶寸 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 过?
Common words with 过 include: 不过 (bù guò, "only"); 过来 (guò lái, "to come over"); 过去 (guò qù, "(in the) past"); 通过 (tōng guò, "to pass through"); 只不过 (zhǐ bu guò, "only"). There are over 116 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 过 (guò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation guò: 国 (country), 果 (fruit, result), 锅 (pot), 裹 (to wrap around), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 过 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 过 and the traditional form is 過.

Practice writing 过 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.