(kǒng): hole, CL:個|个, classifier for cave dwellings

(kǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “hole.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1281 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, the mouth 乚 of a crying baby 子. Its radical form (child) appears in many related characters such as (, son), (, letter), (xué, to learn).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hole
  2. CL:個|个
  3. classifier for cave dwellings

Etymology & Origin

ideographicThe mouth 乚 of a crying baby 子

Decomposition: ⿰子乚 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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
miàn kǒngface
tóng kǒngpupil (of the eye)
bí kǒngnostril
dàn kǒngbullet hole
liǎn kǒngface
kǒng quèpeafowl
zuān kǒngto bore a hole
zhēn kǒngpinhole
máo kǒngpore
穿chuān kǒngto punch a hole
qì kǒngair-bubble
qiān chuāng bǎi kǒngsee 百孔千瘡|百孔千疮[bai3 kong3 qian1 chuang1]
dǎ kǒngto punch a hole
kǒng zǐConfucius (551-479 BC), Chinese thinker and social philosopher, also known as 孔夫子[Kong3 fu1 zi3]
tōng qì kǒngan airvent
100
Total compounds
39
As first character
44
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 39 as the first character, 44 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

qiāo
0.62321,882 co-occurrences
0.55311,904 co-occurrences
0.5104,404 co-occurrences
zuān
0.4922,988 co-occurrences
kuàng
0.4751,194 co-occurrences
dòng
0.4367,518 co-occurrences
zhuāng
0.423696 co-occurrences
gǒng
0.4212,610 co-occurrences
miào
0.4184,272 co-occurrences
穿chuān
0.4188,385 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

bíkǒngcháotiānHSK 7+

to have one's nose in the air; arrogant; haughty

phrase
kǒng bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

screen printing

phrase
Kǒng-Mèng zhī dàoHSK 7+

the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius; Confucianism

noun
Kǒngquè WángcháoHSK 7+

Maurya Empire of India

kǒngwǔyǒulìHSK 7+

to have great physical strength and courage

phrase
kǒng zǐ jiā yǔHSK 7+

The School Sayings of Confucius, a supplement to the Analects; abbr. to 家語|家语[Jia1 yu3]

phrase
Kǒngzǐ XuéyuànHSK 7+

Confucius Institute

shí qī kǒng qiáoHSK 7+

Seventeen-Arch Bridge in the Summer Palace 頤和園|颐和园[Yi2 he2 yuan2], Beijing

phrase
bǎikǒngqiānchuāngHSK 7+

riddled with gaping wounds; afflicted with many ills; in very bad condition

phrase
qiānchuāngbǎikǒngHSK 7+

riddled with gaping wounds; afflicted with many ills; in very bad condition

phrase

Showing 10 of 11 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě kǒng zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "孔" had different meanings in Classical Chinese.

It之家Feb 2026

...展锐 T615 处理器、3.5mm 耳机、SD 卡槽

. . . zhǎn ruì T 6 1 5 chǔ lǐ qì , 3 . 5 m m ěr jī kǒng , S D kǎ cáo

... Zhan Rui T615 processor, 3.5mm headphone jack, SD card slot

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(新春走基层)“洋面”闹畲乡 浙江文成畲族年味吸引多国友人赴...

( xīn chūn zǒu jī céng ) yáng miàn kǒng nào 畲 xiāng zhè jiāng wén chéng 畲 zú nián wèi xī yǐn duō guó yǒu rén fù . . .

(New Year at the grassroots level) "Foreign faces" make trouble in She Township, Zhejiang Wencheng She ethnic group New Year's flavor attracts friends from many countries to go...

三立新聞網Feb 2026

仙气调酒喝下肚小心胃穿 警:最惨丧命

xiān qì diào jiǔ hē xià dù xiǎo xīn wèi chuān kǒng jǐng : zuì cǎn sāng mìng

Fairy cocktail drink, be careful of stomach perforation Police: The most tragic death

LtnFeb 2026

带来“低头”惊喜 台南特色盖说故事

dài lái dī tóu jīng xǐ tái nán tè sè kǒng gài shuō gù shì

Bringing "bowing" surprises, Tainan's characteristic hole covers tell stories

LtnFeb 2026

台南三老爷宫百变12花神 化身污水盖、生日盐御守

tái nán sān lǎo yé gōng bǎi biàn 1 2 huā shén huà shēn wū shuǐ kǒng gài , shēng rì yán yù shǒu

Tainan's Three Masters Palace Changeable 12 Flower Gods incarnate as sewage hole covers and birthday salt amulets

Tatoeba

我右鼻里有豌豆。

Wǒ yòu bíkǒng lǐ yǒu wāndòu.

There's a pea in my right nostril.

Tatoeba

我没看见什么弹

Wǒ méi kànjiàn shénme dànkǒng.

I don't see any bullet holes.

Tatoeba

你精疲力竭的面有时会出现在我眼前。

Nǐ jīngpílìjié de miànkǒng yǒushí huì chūxiàn zài wǒ yǎnqián.

Sometimes that tired-out face of yours appears in front of my eyes.

Tatoeba

是圆的,因为这样人盖就不会意外地掉进洞里。

Rénkǒng shì yuán de, yīnwèi zhèyàng rénkǒnggài jiù bù huì yìwài de diào jìn dòng lǐ.

Manholes are round because that way they won't accidentally fall through the hole.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kǒng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 孔 (kǒng) mean in Chinese?
孔 (kǒng) primarily means "hole." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1281 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 孔 have?
孔 is written with 4 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 孔?
The radical associated with 孔 is 子 (child). This radical appears in many characters related to child.
What are the components of 孔?
孔 is composed of: 子 (structural), 乚 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰子乚 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 孔?
Common words with 孔 include: 面孔 (miàn kǒng, "face"); 瞳孔 (tóng kǒng, "pupil (of the eye)"); 鼻孔 (bí kǒng, "nostril"); 弹孔 (dàn kǒng, "bullet hole"); 脸孔 (liǎn kǒng, "face"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 孔 (kǒng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kǒng: 空 (empty, sky), 恐 (afraid), 控 (to control). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 孔 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 孔 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.