客 (kè): guest, customer
客 (kè) is a Chinese character meaning “guest, customer.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural) and 各 (structural). It ranks #583 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 客 a person 各 welcomed under one's roof 宀; 各 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it), 安 (ān, safe, peace).
Definitions
- guest, customer
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA person 各 welcomed under one's roof 宀; 各 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿱宀各 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 客 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 客
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 客气adjective/verb | kè qi | polite | 4 |
| 客户noun | kè hù | client | 5 |
| 客人noun | kè rén | visitor | 3 |
| 不客气interjection | bù kè qi | you're welcome | 1 |
| 顾客noun | gù kè | customer | 4 |
| 乘客noun | chéng kè | passenger | 4 |
| 客厅noun | kè tīng | living room | 4 |
| 请客verb | qǐng kè | to give a dinner party | 3 |
| 游客noun | yóu kè | traveler | 3 |
| 客观adjective | kè guān | objective | 5 |
| 旅客noun | lǚ kè | traveler | 4 |
| 好客adjective | hào kè | hospitality | 6 |
| 做客verb | zuò kè | to be a guest or visitor | 3 |
| 客服adjective | kè fú | customer service | 5 |
| 客车noun | kè chē | coach | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 客房noun | kè fáng | guest room |
| 博客noun | bó kè | (loanword) a blog |
| 政客noun | zhèng kè | politician |
| 黑客noun | hēi kè | (computing) (loanword) hacker |
| 房客noun | fáng kè | tenant |
| 刺客noun | cì kè | assassin |
| 常客noun | cháng kè | frequent visitor |
| 宾客noun | bīn kè | guests |
| 客串verb | kè chuàn | to appear on stage in an amateur capacity |
| 说客noun | shuì kè | (old) itinerant political adviser |
| 不速之客phrase | bù sù zhī kè | (idiom) uninvited or unexpected guest |
| 客机noun | kè jī | passenger plane |
| 嫖客noun | piáo kè | patron of a brothel |
| 过客noun | guò kè | passing traveler |
| 掮客noun | qián kè | broker |
客 appears in 104 compound words: 37 as the first character, 62 as the last, and 2 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 客 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (8)
guests filled the hall (idiom); a house full of distinguished visitors
lit. the guest acts as host (idiom); fig. to turn from passive to active behavior
Example Sentences
客户服务部门负责处理所有的客户咨询和投诉。
Kèhù fúwù bùmén fùzé chǔlǐ suǒyǒu de kèhù zīxún hé tóusù.
The customer service department handles all customer inquiries and complaints.
...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 "Celebrate the New Year in Jinan丨Fireworks New Year's flavor is strong! Jinan Furong Street passenger flow continues:
“新春走基层”国外游客称赞贵州“秒通关”
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng guó wài yóu kè chèn zàn guì zhōu miǎo tōng guān
"New Year at the grassroots level" foreign tourists praise Guizhou for "customs clearance in seconds"
8名中国游客在贝加尔湖落水,目前仅1人获救
8 míng zhōng guó yóu kè zài bèi jiā ěr hú luò shuǐ , mù qián jǐn 1 rén huò jiù
Eight Chinese tourists fell into the water in Lake Baikal, and only one has been rescued
春节假期首日北京市属公园接待游客20.95万人次,..
chūn jié jiǎ qī shǒu rì běi jīng shì shǔ gōng yuán jiē dāi yóu kè . mò rén cì , . .
On the first day of the Spring Festival holiday, Beijing's municipal parks welcomed 209,500 visitors.
新华视点|福建:实体书店变身“文化会客厅” 全民阅..
xīn huá shì diǎn fú jiàn shí tī shū diàn biàn shēn wén huā huì kè tīng quán mín yuè . .
Xinhua Insight | Fujian: Physical Bookstores Transform into "Cultural Living Rooms," Promoting Reading Among All Citizens
我回来了！啊？我们有客人啊？
Wǒ huílai le! ā? wǒmen yǒu kèrén ā?
I'm back! Oh? Have we got a guest?
顾客永远是正确的吗？
Gùkè yǒngyuǎn shì zhèngquè de ma?
Is the customer always right?
您以前从事过客服工作吗？
Nín yǐqián cóngshì guòkè fú gōngzuò ma?
Have you worked in customer service before?
为什么不给客服打电话？
Wèishénme bù gěi kèfú dǎdiànhuà?
Why don't you call customer service?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 客 (kè) mean in Chinese?
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What is the radical of 客?
What are the components of 客?
What are common words containing 客?
What characters sound the same as 客 (kè)?
Is 客 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 客 with real-time feedback
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