(guò): to pass, past

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

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to pass, past

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwalk

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

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
conjunction/adverbbù guòonly4
verbguò láito come over2
guò qù(in the) past2
verb/prepositiontōng guòto pass through4
verb/nounjīng guòto pass3
verbcuò guòto miss (train, opportunity etc)4
verbchāo guòto surpass4
nounguò chéngcourse of events4
adjectivenán guòto feel sad3
adjectiveguò fènexcessive5
穿verbchuān guòto pass through6
verbguò mǐn(medicine) allergic5
adjectiveguò dùexcessive5
verblù guòto pass by or through4
adverbguò yúexcessively5
verbtòu guòto pass through6
verb/adjectiveguò shíold-fashioned6
verbguò qīto be overdue5
verbguò jiéto celebrate a festival3
nounguò hòuafter the event6
verbguò dùto cross over (by ferry)6
verbguò niánto celebrate the Chinese New Year2

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dù guòto pass
guò yèto spend the night
guò shìto die
guò liàngexcessive
dù guòto cross over
guò cuòmistake
guò rénto surpass others
guò shīerror
fàng guòto let off
fēi guòto fly over
fān guòto turn over
100
Total compounds
75
As first character
25
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 75 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 0 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.

tōng
0.6911,085,233 co-occurrences
chāo
0.608287,910 co-occurrences
jīng
0.586329,280 co-occurrences
chéng
0.560327,348 co-occurrences
0.55418,674 co-occurrences
0.49758,065 co-occurrences
穿chuān
0.47049,944 co-occurrences
0.460118,122 co-occurrences
0.421279,642 co-occurrences
cuò
0.4048,116 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (38)

bìménsīguòHSK 5+

to shut oneself away and reflect on one’s mistakes

phrase
bù guò rú cǐHSK 4+

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

phrase
cājiān'érguòHSK 6+

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

phrase
cāshēn'érguòHSK 4+

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

phrase
cáishíguòrénHSK 3+

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

phrase
cāozhīguòjíHSK 4+

to act with undue haste; to act rashly

phrase
zhāo guò xī gǎiHSK 5+

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

phrase
dàxǐguòwàngHSK 2+

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

phrase
déguòqiěguòHSK 3+

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

phrase
féngniánguòjiéHSK 7+

on New Year's Day or other festivals

phrase
gǎiguòzìxīnHSK 4+

to turn over a new leaf

phrase
gōngguòyúqiúHSK 4+

to have an oversupply; the supply exceeds the demand

phrase

Showing 12 of 38 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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

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

Nǐ qíshí yǒuméiyǒu kàn guo?

Did you read it at all?

Tatoeba

你去看医生了吗?

Nǐ qù kàn guo yīshēng le ma?

Did you go to see a doctor?

Tatoeba

我们以前没见吗?

Wǒmen yǐqián méi jiàn guo ma?

Haven't we met before?

Character Family

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"); 经过 (jīng guò, "to pass"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 过 (guò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation guò: 郭 (outer city wall), 锅 (pot), 国 (country), 果 (fruit, result), and 2 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 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.