检 (jiǎn): to check, to examine, to inspect

检 (jiǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to check.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 佥 (phonetic). It ranks #731 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 检 wood. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to check
  2. to examine
  3. to inspect

Etymology & Origin

检

pictophoneticwood

Decomposition: ⿰木佥 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 检

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
检查verbjiǎn cháinspection3
检测verbjiǎn cèto test6
检验verbjiǎn yànto inspect6
检票verbjiǎn piàoto inspect a ticket3
体检verbtǐ jiǎnabbr. for 體格檢查|体格检查4
安检verbān jiǎnsecurity check (abbr. for 安全檢查|安全检查)4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
检察官nounjiǎn chá guānpublic prosecutor
检察院nounjiǎn chá yuànprosecutor's office
检查员nounjiǎn chá yuáninspector
检举verbjiǎn jǔto report (an offense to the authorities)
检查站nounjiǎn chá zhàncheckpoint
检索verbjiǎn suǒto retrieve (data)
药检nounyào jiǎndrugs test (e.g. on athletes)
检察verbjiǎn cháto inspect
检点verbjiǎn diǎnto examine
检疫verbjiǎn yìquarantine
检阅verbjiǎn yuèto inspect
检修verbjiǎn xiūto overhaul
检讨verbjiǎn tǎoto examine or inspect
检测器jiǎn cè qìdetector
年检nounnián jiǎnannual inspection
100
Total compounds
42
As first character
32
As last character
26
As middle character

检 appears in 100 compound words: 42 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 26 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 检 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

测cè
0.61134,699 co-occurrences
查chá
0.60233,088 co-occurrences
酸suān
0.57811,006 co-occurrences
察chá
0.56831,816 co-occurrences
验yàn
0.55710,202 co-occurrences
核hé
0.53211,234 co-occurrences
筛shāi
0.494782 co-occurrences
纪jì
0.4607,670 co-occurrences
钧jūn
0.45916 co-occurrences
讨tǎo
0.4553,039 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

产前检查chǎn qián jiǎn cháHSK 4+

prenatal checkup; antenatal examination

phrase
健康检查jiàn kāng jiǎn cháHSK 3+

see 體格檢查|体格检查

phrase
切片检查qiē piàn jiǎn cháHSK 4+

histopathological examination; biopsy

phrase
全文检索quánwén jiǎnsuǒHSK 5+

full-text search

noun
体格检查tǐgé jiǎncháHSK 4+

physical examination; health check-up

noun
突击检查tū jī jiǎn cháHSK 6+

sudden unannounced investigation; on-the-spot inspection; to search without notification

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

安检人员仔细检查了每一件行李,确保安全。

Ānjiǎn rényuán zǐxì jiǎnchá le měi yī jiàn xíngli, quèbǎo ānquán.

Security personnel carefully checked every piece of luggage to ensure safety.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

美TSA:机场安检PreCheck计划继续运行

měi T S A : jī chǎng ān jiǎn P r e C h e c k jì huá jì xù yùn háng

TSA: The airport security PreCheck program continues to operate

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

纵管处启动鲤鱼潭水域安全全面检讨 将与地方协力强化管理机制

zòng guǎn chǔ qǐ dòng lǐ yú tán shuǐ yù ān quán quán miàn jiǎn tǎo jiāng yǔ dì fāng xié lì qiáng huà guǎn lǐ jī zhì

The longitudinal management office launched a comprehensive review of the safety of Liyutan waters and will work with local governments to strengthen the management mechanism

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层|货运列车检车员:迟来的团圆,只为让更多..

xīn chūn zǒu 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

...春节再传佳讯!全球首款轻量化肝脏脂肪定量检..

. . . chūn jié zài chuán jiā xùn ! quán qiú shǒu kuǎn qīng liáng huā gān zāng zhī fáng dìng liáng jiǎn . .

... Good news in Spring Festival! The world's first lightweight quantitative liver fat ...

百度新闻Feb 2026

超标近2000倍 日本石川县一处地下水检出高浓度有..

chāo biāo jìn bèi rì běn shí chuān xiàn yī chǔ dì xià shuǐ jiǎn chū gāo nóng dù yǒu . .

Nearly 2,000 times the limit, a groundwater in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, was found to have high concentrations of...

Tatoeba

先生,我们可以检查一下您的行李吗?

Xiānsheng, wǒmen kěyǐ jiǎnchá yīxià nín de xíngli ma?

Sir, can we quickly inspect your luggage please?

Tatoeba

你把购物单上的全都检查过了吗?

Nǐ bǎ gòuwù dān shàng de quándōu jiǎnchá guo le ma?

Did you check all the items on the shopping list?

Tatoeba

你最近检查视力了吗?

Nǐ zuì jìn jiǎnchá shìlì le ma?

Have you had your eyesight checked recently?

Tatoeba

我想检查一下我是否患了乳癌。

Wǒ xiǎng jiǎnchá yīxià wǒ shìfǒu huàn le rǔ'ái.

I'd like to have a test for breast cancer.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (wood) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 检 (jiǎn) mean in Chinese?
检 (jiǎn) primarily means "to check." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #731 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 检 and 验?
检 (jiǎn) and 验 (yàn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 马 (same 佥 component).
How many strokes does 检 have?
检 is written with 11 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 检?
The radical associated with 检 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 检?
检 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 佥 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木佥 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 检?
Common words with 检 include: 检查 (jiǎn chá, "inspection"); 检察官 (jiǎn chá guān, "public prosecutor"); 检测 (jiǎn cè, "to test"); 检验 (jiǎn yàn, "to inspect"); 检票 (jiǎn piào, "to inspect a ticket"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 检 (jiǎn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiǎn: 睑 (eyelid), 捡 (to pick up), 俭 ((bound form) frugal), 间 (room, between). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 检 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 检 and the traditional form is 檢.

Practice writing 检 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.