啃 (kěn): to gnaw, to nibble, to bite

啃 (kěn) is a Chinese character meaning “to gnaw.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 肯 (phonetic). It ranks #2882 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 啃 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to gnaw
  2. to nibble
  3. to bite

Etymology & Origin

啃

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口肯 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
啃老族nounkěn lǎo zú(coll.) adults still living with and depending on their parents
啃老verbkěn lǎo(coll.) to live with and depend on one's parents even upon reaching adulthood
啃书kěn shūlit. to gnaw a book
嘴啃泥zuǐ kěn níto fall flat on one's face
4
Total compounds
75
As first character
0
As last character
25
As middle character

啃 appears in 4 compound words: 75 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 25 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 啃 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

咬yǎo
0.638380 co-occurrences
食shí
0.519898 co-occurrences
鼠shǔ
0.43151 co-occurrences
蚁yǐ
0.39914 co-occurrences
狸lí
0.38114 co-occurrences
痕hén
0.37220 co-occurrences
狼láng
0.36513 co-occurrences
骨gǔ
0.35858 co-occurrences
虫chóng
0.35620 co-occurrences
掉diào
0.35134 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他啃才很好,能言善辩,是个出色的律师。

tā kěn cái hěn hǎo , néng yán shàn biàn , shì gě chū sè de lǜ shī .

He's sharp as a tack, articulate, and an outstanding lawyer.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

老年人因骨质疏松,牙齿移位速度更快,此时强行啃咬硬物,会大幅加重牙体损伤风险。

lǎo nián rén yīn gǔ zhì shū sōng , yá chǐ yí wèi sù dù gēng kuài , cǐ shí qiáng háng kěn yǎo yìng wù , huì dà fú jiā chóng yá tǐ sǔn shāng fēng xiǎn .

Due to osteoporosis, teeth shift more rapidly in older adults; forcing them to bite into hard objects at this stage can significantly increase the risk of tooth damage.

爱范儿Aug 2026

但折叠屏真正难啃的骨头,从来不只在硬件层面。

dàn zhé dié bǐng zhēn zhèng nán kěn de gǔ tóu , cóng lái bù zhī zài yìng jiàn céng miàn .

But the real challenge with foldable screens has never been limited to the hardware alone.

EttodayMar 2026

英雄救美赶走色狼“接棒性侵”还变态啃咬肩颈 留DNA成铁证

yīng xióng jiù měi gǎn zǒu sè láng jiē bàng xìng qīn hái biàn tài kěn yǎo jiān jǐng liú D N A chéng tiě zhèng

Hero Rescues Beauty, Chases Away Predator, Only to Be Accused of "Relay Sexual Assault" and Biting Her Shoulder and Neck; DNA Left Behind Serves as Irrefutable Evidence

StheadlineMar 2026

... | “车”残兵缺势又颓 拖肥主场硬净恶啃

. . . chē cán bīng quē shì yòu tuí tuō féi zhǔ chǎng yìng jìng è kěn

... | "The 'Car' team is battered, depleted, and in decline; the Fat Team is tough at home and a tough nut to crack."

LtnMar 2026

全联惊见老鼠爽啃高丽菜! 官方发声明:紧急停业清消

quán lián jīng jiàn lǎo shǔ shuǎng kěn gāo lí cài ! guān fāng fā shēng míng : jǐn jí tíng yè qīng xiāo

Mice Spotted Gorging on Cabbage at All-Union! Official Statement: Store Closed Immediately for Disinfection

Tatoeba

我劝他别老想着啃老。

Wǒ quàn tā bié lǎo xiǎng zhe kěnlǎo.

I advised him to be independent of his parents.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 口 (mouth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced kěn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 啃 (kěn) mean in Chinese?
啃 (kěn) primarily means "to gnaw." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2882 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 啃 have?
啃 is written with 11 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 啃?
The radical associated with 啃 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 啃?
啃 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 肯 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口肯 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 啃?
Common words with 啃 include: 啃老族 (kěn lǎo zú, "(coll.) adults still living with and depending on their parents"); 啃老 (kěn lǎo, "(coll.) to live with and depend on one's parents even upon reaching adulthood"); 啃书 (kěn shū, "lit. to gnaw a book"); 嘴啃泥 (zuǐ kěn ní, "to fall flat on one's face"). There are over 4 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 啃 (kěn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kěn: 肯 (willing), 恳 (earnest), 垦 (to reclaim (land)). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 啃 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 啃 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 啃 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.