控 (kòng): to control, to accuse, to charge

控 (kòng) is a Chinese character meaning “to control.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 空 (phonetic). It ranks #780 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 控 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to control
  2. to accuse
  3. to charge

Etymology & Origin

控

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌空 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 控

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
控制verbkòng zhìto control5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
指控verbzhǐ kòngaccusation
监控verbjiān kòngto monitor
失控verbshī kòngto go out of control
控告verbkòng gàoto accuse
遥控verbyáo kòngto direct operations from a remote location
遥控器nounyáo kòng qìa remote control
控诉verbkòng sùto accuse
控制室kòng zhì shìcontrol room
控制权kòng zhì quáncontrol (as in "to win control")
控制台nounkòng zhì táicontrol desk
自控zì kòngautomated
控股verbkòng gǔto own a controlling number of shares in a company
调控verbtiáo kòngto regulate
控制论nounkòng zhì lùncybernetics
数控nounshù kòngnumerical control (machining)
97
Total compounds
24
As first character
38
As last character
38
As middle character

控 appears in 97 compound words: 24 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 38 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 控 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

制zhì
0.637259,216 co-occurrences
股gǔ
0.56430,286 co-occurrences
指zhǐ
0.53959,242 co-occurrences
掌zhǎng
0.51412,484 co-occurrences
操cāo
0.49019,860 co-occurrences
疫yì
0.4567,118 co-occurrences
防fáng
0.44716,566 co-occurrences
遥yáo
0.4422,128 co-occurrences
器qì
0.42417,184 co-occurrences
失shī
0.42014,688 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

控股公司kònggǔ gōngsīHSK 6+

holding company

noun
自动控制zì dòng kòng zhìHSK 5+

automatic control

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请控制好情绪,不要在公共场合发脾气。

Qǐng kòngzhì hǎo qíngxù, bùyào zài gōnggòng chǎnghé fā píqi.

Please control your emotions and don't lose your temper in public.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

滙控季息料近3.3元增17% 大行估50亿恒...

滙 kòng jì xī liào jìn 3 . 3 yuán zēng 1 7 dà háng gū 5 0 yì héng . . .

HSBC's quarterly interest rate is expected to increase by 17% by nearly 3.3 yuan, and the major banks estimate 5 billion Heng...

百度新闻Feb 2026

AI“硬控”春节档,电影为何更有“人味”了

A I yìng kòng chūn jié dàng , diàn yǐng wéi hé gēng yǒu rén wèi le

AI "hard controls" the Spring Festival file, why is the movie more "human"

百度新闻Feb 2026

实控人春节前被拘,这家基金公司“问题股东”难...

shí kòng rén chūn jié qián bèi jū , zhè jiā jī jīn gōng sī wèn tí gǔ dōng nán . . .

The real controller was detained before the Spring Festival, the fund company "problem shareholders" difficult...

百度新闻Feb 2026

俄称控制两居民点 乌称打击俄军人员装备

é chèn kòng zhì liǎng jū mín diǎn wū chèn dǎ jī é jūn rén yuán zhuāng bèi

Russia claims control of two population centers, Uruguay says strikes on Russian personnel and equipment

百度新闻Feb 2026

菲律宾海警在南海投放不明物体被抓现行,监控画面公布

菲 lǜ bīn hǎi jǐng zài nán hǎi tóu fàng bù míng wù tī bèi zhuā xiàn háng , jiān kòng huà miàn gōng bù

Philippine Maritime Police caught dropping unidentified objects in the South China Sea, surveillance footage released

Tatoeba

司机被控超速驾驶。

Sījī bèikòng chāosù jiàshǐ.

The driver was charged with speeding.

Tatoeba

鲍勃无法控制他的愤怒。

Bàobó wúfǎ kòngzhì tā de fènnù.

Bob could not control his anger.

Tatoeba

他被指控犯有好几起侵犯财产罪。

Tā bèi zhǐkòng fàn yǒu hǎojǐ qǐ qīnfàn cáichǎn zuì.

He is charged with multiple property crimes.

Tatoeba

汤姆试着控制他的情绪。

Tāngmǔ shìzhe kòngzhì tā de qíngxù.

Tom tried to control his emotions.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced kòng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 控 (kòng) mean in Chinese?
控 (kòng) primarily means "to control." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #780 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 控 and 腔?
控 (kòng) and 腔 (qiāng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 肉 (same 空 component).
How many strokes does 控 have?
控 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 控?
The radical associated with 控 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 控?
控 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 空 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌空 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 控?
Common words with 控 include: 控制 (kòng zhì, "to control"); 指控 (zhǐ kòng, "accusation"); 监控 (jiān kòng, "to monitor"); 失控 (shī kòng, "to go out of control"); 控告 (kòng gào, "to accuse"). There are over 97 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 控 (kòng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kòng: 空 (empty, sky), 恐 (afraid), 孔 (hole). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 控 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 控 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 控 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.