恳 (kěn): earnest

恳 (kěn) is a Chinese character meaning “earnest.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艮 (phonetic) and 心 (semantic). It ranks #2209 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 恳 heart. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忙 (máng, busy), 快 (kuài, fast, happy), 怎 (zěn, how).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. earnest

Etymology & Origin

恳

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿱艮心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
恳求verbkěn qiúto beg
诚恳adjectivechéng kěnsincere
恳请verbkěn qǐngto request earnestly
勤勤恳恳adjectiveqín qín kěn kěnindustrious and conscientious
勤恳adjectiveqín kěndiligent and attentive
恳切adjectivekěn qièearnest
恳辞kěn cíto decline with sincere thanks
7
Total compounds
57
As first character
29
As last character
14
As middle character

恳 appears in 7 compound words: 57 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 14 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 恳 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

诚chéng
0.578435 co-occurrences
请qǐng
0.508568 co-occurrences
挚zhì
0.48132 co-occurrences
求qiú
0.4781,343 co-occurrences
勤qín
0.460244 co-occurrences
谈tán
0.430134 co-occurrences
辞cí
0.428130 co-occurrences
乞qǐ
0.41654 co-occurrences
切qiē
0.408258 co-occurrences
歉qiàn
0.38644 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

恳请帮助,不胜感激。

Kěn qǐng bāngzhù, bù shèng gǎnjī.

Earnestly requesting help, deeply grateful.

爱范儿Aug 2026

当用户看到一条看上去诚恳专业的回答,往往容易忽略推理链路里可能已经悄然塞进了广告。

dāng yòng hù kàn dào yī tiáo kàn shàng qù chéng kěn zhuān yè de huí dā , wǎng wǎng róng yì hū lüè tuī lǐ liàn lù lǐ kě néng yǐ jīng qiǎo rán sāi jìn le guǎng gào .

When users see an answer that appears sincere and professional, they often overlook the fact that an advertisement may have been subtly slipped into the line of reasoning.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

法比奥的发言真挚恳切。

fǎ bǐ ào de fā yán zhēn zhì kěn qiē .

Fabio's remarks were sincere and heartfelt.

少数派Aug 2026

这种对待身边所有人都诚恳的方式,给福山叔留下了非常深刻的印象。

zhè zhǒng duì dài shēn biān suǒ yǒu rén dōu chéng kěn de fāng shì , gěi fú shān shū liú xià le fēi cháng shēn kè de yìn xiàng .

This sincere way of treating everyone around him made a very deep impression on Uncle Fushan.

Hk01.comMar 2026

关晓彤被爆破分手传闻“恳求鹿晗复合”?网传双顶流情侣转地下情

guān xiǎo 彤 bèi bào pò fēn shǒu chuán wén kěn qiú lù 晗 fù gě ? wǎng chuán shuāng dǐng liú qíng lǚ zhuǎn dì xià qíng

Guang Xiaotong Reportedly "Begs Lu Han to Get Back Together" Amid Breakup Rumors? Online Rumors Suggest the Two Top-Tier Celebrities Have Gone Underground

NewsFeb 2026

...福?萧美琴发福袋顺便“练深蹲” 网赞:诚恳就在细节里

. . . fú ? xiāo měi qín fā fú dài shùn biàn liàn shēn cún wǎng zàn chéng kěn jiù zài xì jié lǐ

...Fortune? Hsiao Mei-chin hands out red envelopes while "practicing squats" Netizens praise: Sincerity shines through in the details

Tatoeba

你恳求与我谈话的原因是什么?

Nǐ kěnqiú yǔ wǒ tánhuà de yuányīn shì shénme?

What is your reason for soliciting a conversation with me?

Tatoeba

尽管我恳切地要求,他们还是拒绝跟我说话。

Jǐnguǎn wǒ kěnqiè de yāoqiú, tāmen háishì jùjué gēn wǒ shuōhuà.

They refused to talk to me in spite of my earnest request.

Tatoeba

他恳求我留下来。

Tā kěnqiú wǒ liúxià lái.

He begged me to stay.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 心 (heart) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced kěn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 恳 (kěn) mean in Chinese?
恳 (kěn) primarily means "earnest." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2209 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 恳 and 很?
恳 (kěn) and 很 (hěn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 忄 vs 彳 (same 艮 component).
How many strokes does 恳 have?
恳 is written with 10 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 恳?
The radical associated with 恳 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 恳?
恳 is composed of: 艮 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艮心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 恳?
Common words with 恳 include: 恳求 (kěn qiú, "to beg"); 诚恳 (chéng kěn, "sincere"); 恳请 (kěn qǐng, "to request earnestly"); 勤勤恳恳 (qín qín kěn kěn, "industrious and conscientious"); 勤恳 (qín kěn, "diligent and attentive"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 恳 (kěn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kěn: 垦 (to reclaim (land)). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 恳 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 恳 and the traditional form is 懇.

Practice writing 恳 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.