吭 (kēng): to utter a sound, throat
吭 (kēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to utter a sound.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 亢 (phonetic). It ranks #2780 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 吭 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).
Definitions
- to utter a sound
- throat
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 吭 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 一声不吭 | yī shēng bù kēng | to not say a word |
| 吭声verb | kēng shēng | to utter a word |
| 引吭高歌 | yǐn háng gāo gē | to sing at the top of one's voice (idiom) |
| 吭气verb | kēng qì | to utter a sound |
| 吭哧noun | kēng chi | to puff and blow |
| 吭吭 | kēng kēng | (onom.) coughing, grunting etc |
吭 appears in 6 compound words: 67 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 17 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 吭 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
孩子们吭渴了,纷纷跑到饮水机前接水。
hái zǐ men háng kě le , fēn fēn pǎo dào yǐn shuǐ jī qián jiē shuǐ .
The children were parched and rushed to the water cooler to fill their cups.
面对这些“不讲道理”的组合,有人点赞,有人疑惑,更多人则一声不吭地点了关注。
miàn duì zhè xiē bù jiǎng dào lǐ de zǔ gě , yǒu rén diǎn zàn , yǒu rén yí huò , gēng duō rén zé yī shēng bù háng dì diǎn le guān zhù .
Faced with these “unconventional” pairings, some people gave them a thumbs-up, others were puzzled, and still more silently followed them.
你坐在电脑前干活,旁边有个家伙一声不吭盯着你。
nǐ zuò zài diàn nǎo qián gān huó , páng biān yǒu gè jiā huǒ yī shēng bù háng dīng zhe nǐ .
You're sitting at your computer working, and there's a guy right next to you staring at you without saying a word.
除非你有什么值得说的话要说,否则就别吭声。
Chúfēi nǐ yǒu shénme zhíde shuō dehuà yàoshuō, fǒuzé jiù bié kēngshēng.
Don't speak unless you have something worth saying.
Character Family
Homophones — Characters pronounced kēng
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 吭 (kēng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 吭 and 航?
How many strokes does 吭 have?
What is the radical of 吭?
What are the components of 吭?
What are common words containing 吭?
What characters sound the same as 吭 (kēng)?
Is 吭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 吭 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.