哭 (kū): to cry
哭 (kū) is a Chinese character meaning “to cry.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (structural), 口 (structural) and 犬 (structural). It ranks #1205 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 哭 to shed a tear from your eyes 口 over a person 犬. 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 cry
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTo shed a tear from your eyes 口 over a person 犬
Decomposition: ⿱⿰口口犬 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 哭 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 哭泣verb | kū qì | to weep |
| 哭喊 | kū hǎn | to wail |
| 哭声noun | kū shēng | sound of weeping |
| 痛哭verb | tòng kū | to cry bitterly |
| 哭哭啼啼verb | kū ku tí tí | to weep endlessly |
| 哭诉verb | kū sù | to lament |
| 哭鼻子verb | kū bí zi | to snivel (usually humorous) |
| 哭闹verb | kū nào | to bawl, disturbing others |
| 痛哭流涕phrase | tòng kū liú tì | weeping bitter tears |
| 哭丧着脸verb | kū sang zhe liǎn | to pull a long face |
| 哭丧verb | kū sāng | to wail at a funeral |
| 哭笑不得phrase | kū xiào bù dé | lit. not to know whether to laugh or cry (idiom) |
| 号啕大哭 | háo táo dà kū | variant of 嚎啕大哭 |
| 抱头痛哭phrase | bào tóu tòng kū | to weep disconsolately |
| 哭穷verb | kū qióng | to bewail one's poverty |
哭 appears in 42 compound words: 48 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 19 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 哭 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (8)
the cat weeps for the dead mouse (idiom); hypocritical pretence of condolence; crocodile tears
the cat weeps for the dead mouse (idiom); hypocritical pretence of condolence; crocodile tears
Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing 哭.
Example Sentences
孩子因为找不到妈妈而大哭，工作人员正在帮他寻找。
Háizi yīnwèi zhǎo bú dào māma ér dàkū, gōngzuò rényuán zhèngzài bāng tā xúnzhǎo.
The child is crying loudly because he can't find his mother; staff are helping him search.
...最后身影!新北12岁女童坠楼相验 家属痛哭
. . . zuì hòu shēn yǐng ! xīn běi 1 2 suì nǚ tóng zhuì lóu xiāng yàn jiā shǔ tòng kū
... The last figure! A 12-year-old girl in New Taipei City fell from a building and her family cried bitterly
冬奥—谷爱凌夺金后得悉外婆离世 记者会上哭说“昨晚才梦到她”
dōng ào — gǔ ài líng duó jīn hòu dé xī wài pó lí shì jì zhě huì shàng kū shuō zuó wǎn cái mèng dào tā
Winter Olympics - After Gu Ailing won the gold medal, she learned of her grandmother's death and cried at the press conference, "I only dreamed of her last night"
电脑玩家哭了?中企被寄望“便宜记忆体救世主” 外媒...
diàn nǎo wán jiā kū le ? zhōng qǐ bèi jì wàng biàn yí jì yì tǐ jiù shì zhǔ wài méi . . .
Computer gamers crying? Chinese companies are expected to be the "savior of cheap memory" foreign media...
笑着起飞的苏翊鸣,落地后哭了
xiào zhe qǐ fēi de sū 翊 míng , luò dì hòu kū le
Su Yiming took off with a smile on his face, but cried when he landed.
...游乐场与家人失散,5岁女童坠入路边深井大哭,男子..
. . . yóu lè chǎng yú jiā rén shī sàn , suì nǚ tóng zhuì rù lù biān shēn jǐng dà kū , nán zǐ . .
... Separated from her family at an amusement park, a 5-year-old girl fell into a roadside well and cried as a man...
那时婴儿正在哭吗？
Nàshí yīng'ér zhèngzài kū ma?
Was the baby crying then?
孩子，你为什么哭呀？说给我听听。
Háizi, nǐ wèishénme kū ya? shuō gěi wǒ tīng tīng.
Child, why are you crying? Tell me.
汤姆，发生了什么？为啥哭泣呢？
Tāngmǔ, fāshēng le shénme? wèishá kūqì ne?
Tom, what happened? Why are you crying?
你为什么哭得这么厉害？
Nǐ wèi shénme kū de zhème lìhai?
Why did you cry so much?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 哭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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