磕 (kē): to tap, to knock (against sth hard), to knock (mud from boots, ashes from a pipe etc)
磕 (kē) is a Chinese character meaning “to tap.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 石 (semantic) and 盍 (phonetic). It ranks #2740 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 磕 stone. Its radical form 石 (stone) appears in many related characters such as 确 (què, certain, true), 碗 (wǎn, bowl), 碰 (pèng, to touch, to bump).
Definitions
- to tap
- to knock (against sth hard)
- to knock (mud from boots, ashes from a pipe etc)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 磕 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 磕磕绊绊adjective | kē ke bàn bàn | bumpy (of a road) |
| 磕头verb | kē tóu | to kowtow (traditional greeting, esp. to a superior, involving kneeling and pressing one's forehead to the ground) |
| 磕碰verb | kē pèng | to knock against |
| 死磕verb | sǐ kē | (coll.) to fight to the death |
| 磕头如捣蒜 | kè tóu rú dǎo suàn | lit. to kowtow like grinding garlic (idiom) |
| 磕磕巴巴phrase | kē kē bā bā | stammering |
| 磕膝盖noun | kē xī gài | (dialect) knee |
| 磕糖 | kē táng | (slang) to revel in the sight of one's favorite couple being affectionate |
| 磕CP | kē CP | (slang) to ship a fictional couple |
| 磕碜adjective | kē chen | (dialect) ugly |
| 磕磕interjection | kē kē | (onom.) knocking |
磕 appears in 11 compound words: 91 as the first character, 9 as the last, and 0 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 磕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
磕字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。
kē zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .
The word "knock" has different usages in different contexts.
雷军透露,SoC 和基带双线突破的背后,是小米死磕底层技术的决心。
léi jūn tòu lù , S o C hé jī dài shuāng xiàn tū pò de bèi hòu , shì xiǎo mǐ sǐ kē de céng jì shù de jué xīn .
Lei Jun revealed that behind Xiaomi’s dual breakthroughs in SoC and baseband technology lies the company’s determination to master core technologies.
同时,鞋子抓脚不稳,人们会下意识蜷缩脚趾抓鞋,长期可造成脚趾挛缩、指甲磕碰损伤。
tóng shí , xié zǐ zhuā jiǎo bù wěn , rén men huì xià yì shí 蜷 suō jiǎo zhǐ zhuā xié , cháng qī kě zào chéng jiǎo zhǐ 挛 suō , zhǐ jiǎ kē pèng sǔn shāng .
At the same time, if shoes don’t fit securely, people will subconsciously curl their toes to grip the shoes, which over time can lead to toe contractures and injuries from bumping the toenails.
全新亮相的琴·葛蕾,倾情演绎互相救赎的戏码,让众多观众磕上邪门 CP。
quán xīn liàng xiāng de qín Gě lěi , qīng qíng yǎn yì hù xiāng jiù shú de xì mǎ , ràng zhòng duō guàn zhòng kē shàng xié mén C P .
The newly introduced Jean Grey delivers a heartfelt performance in a story of mutual redemption, causing many viewers to become obsessed with this unconventional couple.
充当临时防水敷料 雨天出行若不慎磕碰受伤,混杂细菌的雨水极易污染伤口,进而引发感染。
chōng dāng lín shí fáng shuǐ fū liào yǔ tiān chū háng ruò bù shèn kē pèng shòu shāng , hùn zá xì jūn de yǔ shuǐ jí yì wū rǎn shāng kǒu , jìn ér yǐn fā gǎn rǎn .
As a temporary waterproof dressing: If you accidentally bump into something and get injured while out in the rain, rainwater contaminated with bacteria can easily contaminate the wound, leading to infection.
俄罗斯女婿给丈母娘磕头拜年:不是必须做,是我所能表..
é luó sī nǚ xù gěi zhàng mǔ niáng kē tóu bài nián : bù shì bì xū zuò , shì wǒ suǒ néng biǎo . .
The Russian son-in-law kowtowed to his mother-in-law for the New Year: It's not something I have to do, it's what I can do:
他磕碎了下巴,掉了几颗牙。
Tā kē suì le xiàba, diào le jǐ kē yá.
He got a broken jaw and lost some teeth.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 磕 (kē)?
Is 磕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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