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

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

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

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

Etymology & Origin

孔

ideographicThe mouth 乚 of a crying baby 子

Decomposition: ⿰子乚 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
面孔nounmiàn kǒngface
瞳孔nountóng kǒngpupil (of the eye)
鼻孔nounbí kǒngnostril
弹孔dàn kǒngbullet hole
脸孔nounliǎn kǒngface
孔雀nounkǒng quèpeafowl
钻孔verbzuān kǒngto bore a hole
针孔nounzhēn kǒngpinhole
毛孔nounmáo kǒngpore
穿孔verbchuān kǒngto punch a hole
气孔nounqì kǒngair-bubble
千疮百孔phraseqiān chuāng bǎi kǒngsee 百孔千瘡|百孔千疮
打孔verbdǎ kǒngto punch a hole
孔子proper-nounkǒng zǐConfucius (551-479 BC), Chinese thinker and social philosopher, also known as 孔夫子
通气孔tōng qì kǒngan airvent
100
Total compounds
39
As first character
44
As last character
17
As middle character

孔 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 孔 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

雀què
0.5987,300 co-occurrences
鼻bí
0.5453,968 co-occurrences
隙xì
0.5031,468 co-occurrences
钻zuān
0.485996 co-occurrences
眶kuàng
0.468398 co-occurrences
乡xiāng
0.43012 co-occurrences
洞dòng
0.4302,506 co-occurrences
桩zhuāng
0.417232 co-occurrences
穿chuān
0.4162,794 co-occurrences
拱gǒng
0.415870 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

百孔千疮bǎikǒngqiānchuāng

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

phrase
鼻孔朝天bíkǒngcháotiānHSK 7+

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

phrase
孔版印刷kǒng bǎn yìn shuāHSK 7+

screen printing

phrase
孔孟之道Kǒng-Mèng zhī dàoHSK 7+

the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius; Confucianism

noun
孔雀王朝Kǒngquè WángcháoHSK 7+

Maurya Empire of India

孔武有力kǒngwǔyǒulìHSK 7+

to have great physical strength and courage

phrase
孔子家语kǒng zǐ jiā yǔHSK 7+

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

phrase
孔子学院Kǒngzǐ XuéyuànHSK 7+

Confucius Institute

千疮百孔qiānchuāngbǎikǒng

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

phrase
十七孔桥shí qī kǒng qiáoHSK 7+

Seventeen-Arch Bridge in the Summer Palace 頤和園|颐和园, Beijing

phrase

Showing 10 of 11 idioms containing 孔.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个孔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 耳机孔、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)“洋面孔”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孔 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 台南特色孔盖说故事

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 化身污水孔盖、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

我右鼻孔里有豌豆。

Wǒ yòu bíkǒng lǐ yǒu wāndòu.

There's a pea in my right nostril.

Tatoeba

我没看见什么弹孔。

Wǒ méi kànjiàn shénme dànkǒng.

I don't see any bullet holes.

Tatoeba

你精疲力竭的面孔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

人孔是圆的,因为这样人孔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), 控 (to control), 恐 (afraid). 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 孔 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.