(): classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc

() is a Chinese character meaning “classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2071 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, tree. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木果 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bù yào zài yī kē shù shàng diào sǐdon't insist on only taking one road to Rome (idiom)
fā kēbudding
tā kē càiBrassica narinosa (broadbeaked mustard)
3
Total compounds
0
As first character
33
As last character
67
As middle character

appears in 3 compound words: 0 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 67 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.

0.69418 co-occurrences
shù
0.65110,272 co-occurrences
xiàng
0.437396 co-occurrences
mén
0.42519 co-occurrences
sōng
0.4192,073 co-occurrences
kǎn
0.414276 co-occurrences
0.407126 co-occurrences
huái
0.399132 co-occurrences
dǎo
0.391913 co-occurrences
zhí
0.3851,122 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

春天来了,院子里的木开始发芽抽枝。

chūn tiān lái le , yuàn zǐ lǐ de kē mù kāi shǐ fā yá chōu zhī .

Spring has arrived, and the trees in the yard are beginning to sprout buds and unfurl their branches.

SmzdmMar 2026

...彦斌2026巡演北京站定档6月27日,五松体育馆开唱

. . . 彦 斌 2 0 2 6 xún yǎn běi jīng zhàn dìng dàng 6 yuè 2 7 rì , wǔ kē sōng tǐ yù guǎn kāi chàng

...Yan Bin's 2026 Tour Beijing Stop is scheduled for June 27 at the Wukesong Arena

The Portugal NewsMar 2026

葡萄牙环保协会提供 170 万

pú táo yá huán bǎo xié huì tí gōng 1 7 0 wàn kē shù

The Portuguese Environmental Association is providing 1.7 million trees

Tatoeba

汤姆在后院砍伐了一树。

Tāngmǔ zàihòu yuàn kǎnfá le yī kē shù.

Tom cut down a tree in his yard.

Tatoeba

你曾经用德语和那小桃树打过招呼吗?

Nǐ céngjīng yòng Déyǔ hé nà kē xiǎo táoshù dǎ guòzhāo hū ma?

Have you ever greeted the small peach tree in German?

Tatoeba

他在花园里砍了一树。

Tā zài huāyuán lǐ kǎn le yī kē shù.

He cut down a tree in his garden.

Tatoeba

大树遭到雷击。

Zhè kē Dàshù zāodào léijī.

The big tree was struck by lightning.

Tatoeba

园丁在花园的中央种了一玫瑰树。

Yuándīng zài huāyuán de zhōngyāng zhòng le yī kē méiguī shù.

The gardener planted a rose tree in the middle of the garden.

Tatoeba

汤姆在两树之间拉起了一条晾衣绳。

Tāngmǔ zài liǎng kē shù zhījiān lā qǐ le yī tiáo liàngyīshéng.

Tom strung a clothesline between the two trees.

Tatoeba

一粒小小的橡实可以长成一高大的橡树。

Yī lì xiǎoxiǎo de xiàngshí kěyǐ zhǎngchéng yī kē gāodà de xiàngshù.

From a small acorn grows a tall oak tree.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 棵 (kē) mean in Chinese?
棵 (kē) primarily means "classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2071 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 棵 and 裹?
棵 (kē) and 裹 (guǒ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 衤 (same 果 component).
How many strokes does 棵 have?
棵 is written with 12 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 棵?
The radical associated with 棵 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 棵?
棵 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 果 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木果 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 棵?
Common words with 棵 include: 不要在一棵树上吊死 (bù yào zài yī kē shù shàng diào sǐ, "don't insist on only taking one road to Rome (idiom)"); 发棵 (fā kē, "budding"); 塌棵菜 (tā kē cài, "Brassica narinosa (broadbeaked mustard)"). There are over 3 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 棵 (kē)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kē: 课 (lesson, class), 苛 (severe), 科 (branch of study), 颗 (classifier for small spheres, pearls, corn grains, teeth, hearts, satellites etc), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 棵 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 棵 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.