讲 (jiǎng): to speak, to explain

讲 (jiǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “to speak, to explain.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 井 (phonetic). It ranks #555 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 讲 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to speak, to explain

Etymology & Origin

讲

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠井 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 讲

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
讲话nounjiǎng huàa speech5
演讲verbyǎn jiǎngto give a lecture5
讲述verbjiǎng shùto talk about5
讲座nounjiǎng zuòcourse of lectures5
讲究verb/adjectivejiǎng jiuto pay particular attention to5
讲解verbjiǎng jiěto explain6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
来讲postplái jiǎngas to
对讲机nounduì jiǎng jīintercom
讲台nounjiǎng táivariant of 講臺|讲台
讲理verbjiǎng lǐto argue
讲课verbjiǎng kèto give a lecture
讲演verbjiǎng yǎnto lecture
讲师nounjiǎng shīinstructor
听讲verbtīng jiǎngto attend a lecture
宣讲verbxuān jiǎngto preach
讲求verbjiǎng qiúto stress
讲明verbjiǎng míngto explain
讲授verbjiǎng shòuto lecture
讲价verbjiǎng jiàto bargain (over price)
讲和verbjiǎng héto make peace
讲义nounjiǎng yìteaching materials
65
Total compounds
54
As first character
34
As last character
12
As middle character

讲 appears in 65 compound words: 54 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 12 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 讲 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

话huà
0.61113,298 co-occurrences
述shù
0.58024,916 co-occurrences
燥zào
0.52924 co-occurrences
拎līn
0.52610 co-occurrences
舌shé
0.48524 co-occurrences
师shī
0.4666,820 co-occurrences
课kè
0.4361,362 co-occurrences
坛tán
0.432860 co-occurrences
演yǎn
0.42921,317 co-occurrences
授shòu
0.4254,594 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

鸡同鸭讲jītóngyājiǎngHSK 5+

mutually unintelligible; unable to understand one another; to talk past each other; getting one's wires crossed

phrase
蛮不讲理mánbùjiǎnglǐHSK 7+

rude and unreasonable

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

讲师用了一个小时来讲解这个复杂的概念。

Jiǎngshī yòng le yí gè xiǎoshí lái jiǎngjiě zhè gè fùzá de gàiniàn.

The lecturer spent an hour explaining this complex concept.

中時新聞網Feb 2026

竹县爱讲“客”推学校客语能力 扩大奖励对象

zhú xiàn ài jiǎng kè tuī xué jiào kè yǔ néng lì kuò dà jiǎng lì duì xiàng

Zhu County loves to speak "guests" and promote the school's Hakka language ability to expand the reward objects

华尔街日报中Feb 2026

特朗普将在国情咨文演讲中说些什么?

tè lǎng pǔ jiāng zài guó qíng zī wén yǎn jiǎng zhōng shuō xiē shén má ?

What will Trump say in his State of the Union address?

NewsFeb 2026

...大主办APAIE年会开幕 约130场会议讲座料吸引逾3000业界翘楚

. . . dà zhǔ bàn nián huì kāi mù yuē chǎng huì yì jiǎng zuò liào xī yǐn yú yè jiè qiáo chǔ

The Grand Opening of the APAIE Annual Conference Approximately 130 conferences and lectures are expected to attract over 3,000 industry leaders.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(新春走基层)从讲堂到田埂:一名浙江党外专家近20年的“乡...

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng cóng jiǎng táng dào tián 埂 yī míng zhè jiāng dǎng wài zhuān jiā jìn nián de xiāng . . .

(Spring Festival Grassroots Report) From Lecture Halls to Farm Fields: A Zhejiang Non-Party Expert's Nearly 20-Year Journey in Rural Development

NewsFeb 2026

GD故意辱华?拜年不讲Chinese New Year 小粉红...

gù yì rǔ huá ? bài nián bù jiǎng xiǎo fěn hóng . . .

Did GD intentionally insult China? Not mentioning Chinese New Year in his New Year greetings... Little Pinkies...

Tatoeba

我们老师确实很讲究礼节,不是吗?

Wǒmen lǎoshī quèshí hěn jiǎngjiu lǐjié, bùshìma?

Our teacher really stands on ceremony, doesn't she?

Tatoeba

你会讲阿拉伯语吗?

Nǐ huì jiǎng ālābóyǔ ma?

Do you speak Arabic?

Tatoeba

你会讲中文或俄语吗?

Nǐ huì jiǎng Zhōngwén huò éyǔ ma?

Can you speak either Chinese or Russian?

Tatoeba

你曾经用英语演讲过吗?

Nǐ céngjīng yòng Yīngyǔ yǎnjiǎng guo ma?

Did you ever make a speech in English?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 讠 (speech) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiǎng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 讲 (jiǎng) mean in Chinese?
讲 (jiǎng) primarily means "to speak, to explain." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #555 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 讲 and 进?
讲 (jiǎng) and 进 (jìn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 讠 vs 辶 (same 井 component).
How many strokes does 讲 have?
讲 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 讲?
The radical associated with 讲 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 讲?
讲 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 井 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠井 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 讲?
Common words with 讲 include: 讲话 (jiǎng huà, "a speech"); 演讲 (yǎn jiǎng, "to give a lecture"); 来讲 (lái jiǎng, "as to"); 讲述 (jiǎng shù, "to talk about"); 对讲机 (duì jiǎng jī, "intercom"). There are over 65 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 讲 (jiǎng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiǎng: 将 (will), 降 (to drop), 江 (river), 奖 (prize), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 讲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 讲 and the traditional form is 講.

Practice writing 讲 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.