考 (kǎo): to beat, to hit, variant of 考

考 (kǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to beat.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 耂 (semantic) and 丂 (phonetic). It ranks #495 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 考 old. Its radical form 老 (old) appears in many related characters such as 老 (lǎo, old (of people)), 者 (zhě, (after a verb or adjective) one who (is) ...).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 2 Radical: 老 old6 strokesFrequency #495耂 semantic 丂 phonetic

Definitions

to beat
to hit
variant of 考

Etymology & Origin

考

pictophoneticold

Decomposition: ⿸耂丂 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Components:耂semantic 丂phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 考

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
考虑verb	kǎo lǜ	to think over	4
思考verb	sī kǎo	to reflect on	5
考试verb/noun	kǎo shì	to take an exam	2
考验verb	kǎo yàn	to test	6
参考verb	cān kǎo	consultation	5
考察verb	kǎo chá	to inspect	6
考古verb/noun	kǎo gǔ	archaeology	6
高考noun	gāo kǎo	college entrance exam (especially as abbr. for 普通高等學校招生全國統一考試\|普通高等学校招生全国统一考试[Pu3 tong1 Gao1 deng3 Xue2 xiao4 Zhao1 sh...	4
考核verb	kǎo hé	to examine	6
报考verb	bào kǎo	to enter oneself for an examination	4
考生noun	kǎo shēng	exam candidate	4

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
考古学家	kǎo gǔ xué jiā	archaeologist
斯考特	sī kǎo tè	Scott (name)
考上verb	kǎo shàng	to gain admission or secure a position by passing an exam
考量verb	kǎo liáng	to consider
考卷noun	kǎo juàn	exam paper
考古学noun	kǎo gǔ xué	archaeology
考克斯proper-noun	kǎo kè sī	(surname) Cox
补考verb	bǔ kǎo	to sit for a makeup exam
会考noun	huì kǎo	unified examination
考证verb	kǎo zhèng	to do textual research
参考书noun	cān kǎo shū	reference book
考查verb	kǎo chá	to investigate
监考verb	jiān kǎo	to proctor (an exam)
考文垂proper-noun	kǎo wén chuí	Coventry, city in the West Midlands, England
考究verb	kǎo jiū	to investigate

100

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

考 appears in 100 compound words: 56 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 6 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 考 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

参cān

0.8631,188,638 co-occurrences

献xiàn

0.837628,038 co-occurrences

料liào

0.827854,548 co-occurrences

文wén

0.738973,560 co-occurrences

资zī

0.719365,456 co-occurrences

虑lǜ

0.63439,178 co-occurrences

源yuán

0.45869,130 co-occurrences

试shì

0.45026,060 co-occurrences

察chá

0.40532,398 co-occurrences

古gǔ

0.39346,232 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

富贵寿考fù guì shòu kǎoHSK 6+

rank, wealth, and long life

phrase

换位思考huànwèi sīkǎoHSK 3+

to put oneself in someone's shoes

phrase

仅供参考jǐngōngcānkǎoHSK 4+

for reference only

phrase

考古学家kǎo gǔ xué jiāHSK 5+

archaeologist

phrase

如丧考妣rúsàngkǎobǐHSK 6+

grieved or anxious as if one had lost one's parents; concentrate on things

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座城市近年来发展迅速，吸引了很多外来人口。

Zhè zuò chéngshì jìn nián lái fāzhǎn xùnsù, xīyǐn le hěn duō wàilái rénkǒu.

This city has developed rapidly in recent years, attracting many migrants.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

川普新关税生效韩外交部:综合考虑韩美关系影响

chuān pǔ xīn guān shuì shēng xiào hán wài jiāo bù : zèng gě kǎo lǜ hán měi guān xì yǐng xiǎng

Trump's new tariffs take effect South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Comprehensively consider the impact of South Korea-US relations

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

首相考虑解冻军队采购资金确保武装部队行动不受...

shǒu xiāng kǎo lǜ jiě dòng jūn duì cǎi gòu zī jīn què bǎo wǔ zhuāng bù duì háng dòng bù shòu . . .

Prime Minister considers unfreezing military procurement funds to ensure armed forces operations are protected from...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

考文垂:期待“为奥运喝彩”项目组持续发挥文...

kǎo wén chuí : qī dài wéi ào yùn hē cǎi xiàng mù zǔ chí xù fā huī wén . . .

Coventry: Looking forward to the "Cheer for the Olympics" project team continuing to play Wen...

工商時報Feb 2026

7千万修复儒考棚变特卖会场!挨轰糟蹋古迹市府称:短期...

7 qiān wàn xiū fù rú kǎo péng biàn tè mài huì chǎng ! āi hōng zāo tà gǔ jì shì fǔ chèn : duǎn qī . . .

70 million repaired Confucian examination shed into a special sale venue! The city government said: short-term...

百度新闻Feb 2026

华纳兄弟探索据悉考虑重启与Paramount的谈判..

huá nà xiōng dì tàn suǒ jù xī kǎo lǜ chóng qǐ yú de tán pàn . .

Warner Bros. Exploration Reportedly Considering Restarting Talks With Paramount...

Tatoeba

您曾经见过考拉吗？

Nín céngjīng jiàn guo kǎolā ma?

Have you ever seen a koala?

Tatoeba

你上次考试考得怎样？

Nǐ shàngcì kǎoshì kǎo de zěnyàng?

How were your last exams?

Tatoeba

尼克没有通过考试，是吗？

Níkè méiyǒu tōngguò kǎoshì, shì ma?

Nick didn't pass the exam, did he?

Tatoeba

他能过考试的，是不是？

Tā néng guo kǎoshì de, shìbùshì?

He could pass the examination, could not he?

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 考 (kǎo) mean in Chinese?

考 (kǎo) primarily means "to beat." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #495 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 考 and 号?

考 (kǎo) and 号 (hào) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 老 vs 口 (same 丂 component).

How many strokes does 考 have?

考 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 考?

The radical associated with 考 is 老 (old). This radical appears in many characters related to old.

What are the components of 考?

考 is composed of: 耂 (semantic), 丂 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸耂丂 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 考?

Common words with 考 include: 考虑 (kǎo lǜ, "to think over"); 思考 (sī kǎo, "to reflect on"); 考试 (kǎo shì, "to take an exam"); 考验 (kǎo yàn, "to test"); 参考 (cān kǎo, "consultation"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 考 (kǎo)?

Several characters share the pronunciation kǎo: 靠 (to lean against or on), 烤 (to roast, to bake). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 考 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

No. The simplified form is 考 and the traditional form is 攷.

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考 (kǎo): to beat, to hit, variant of 考

Definitions

Etymology & Origin

Stroke Order

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 考

Common Compounds

Strongest Collocations

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

Example Sentences

Character Family

老 Radical Family — Characters sharing the old radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced kǎo

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice writing 考 with real-time feedback