(kuài): piece, lump

(kuài) is a Chinese character meaning “piece, lump.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #793 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, earth. Its radical form (earth) appears in many related characters such as (zài, to exist), (, earth, ground), (chǎng, field, place).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. piece, lump

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿰土夬 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
noun/adverbyī kuài rerhua variant of 一塊|一块[yi1 kuai4]3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dà kuài tóuheavy man
bīng kuàiice cube
yī kuàia piece
kuài tóusize
zhǒng kuàiswelling
fāng kuàicube
shí kuàistone
mó kuàimodule (in software)
xuè kuàiblood clot
bǎn kuàislab
zhuān kuàibrick
suì kuàifragment
mù kuàiblock
kuài zhuànglump
bǎn kuàiprinting block
71
Total compounds
14
As first character
62
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 71 compound words: 14 as the first character, 62 as the last, and 24 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.

bǎn
0.54021,769 co-occurrences
0.53632,490 co-occurrences
zhuān
0.5244,350 co-occurrences
zhì
0.4811,104 co-occurrences
0.4751,884 co-occurrences
bān
0.4634,031 co-occurrences
shí
0.45520,590 co-occurrences
jīng
0.445936 co-occurrences
zhǒng
0.4411,110 co-occurrences
bēi
0.4223,942 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

bā kuài fù jīHSK 7+

six pack (abdominal muscles)

phrase
bǎnkuài gòuzàoHSK 5+

plate tectonics

noun
móshù fāngkuàiHSK 7+

Rubik's cube

noun
qǐn shān zhěn kuàiHSK 7+

bed of straw and pillow of clay (idiom); the correct etiquette for a filial son during the mourning period

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

地面积很大,可以用来建一个大型购物中心。

Zhè kuài dì miànjī hěn dà, kěyǐ yòng lái jiàn yí gè dàxíng gòuwù zhōngxīn.

This piece of land is very large and can be used to build a large shopping center.

99 健康网Feb 2026

宫腔内低回声有几种可能?包括妊娠囊、血或小肌瘤吗

gōng qiāng nèi dī huí shēng yǒu jī zhǒng kě néng ? bāo kuò 妊 娠 náng , xiě kuài huò xiǎo jī liú ma

How many possibilities are there for intrauterine hypoechoia? Including gestational sacs, blood clots, or small fibroids

WorldjournalFeb 2026

...国运通将设新总部 曼哈顿世贸建筑群最后一拼图补足

. . . guó yùn tōng jiāng shè xīn zǒng bù 曼 hā dùn shì mào jiàn zhù qún zuì hòu yī kuài pīn tú bǔ zú

... China Express will set up a new headquarters The last piece of the puzzle in the Manhattan World Trade Center complex is completed

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

...| 影视游戏ETF重挫逾7%领跌,油气板逆势爆发涨超9%-FX168

. . . yǐng shì yóu xì E T F chóng cuò yú 7 lǐng diē , yóu qì bǎn kuài nì shì bào fā zhǎng chāo 9 F X 1 6 8

...| Film and television game ETFs fell more than 7% to lead the decline, and the oil and gas sector bucked the trend and rose more than 9%-FX168

InvestingFeb 2026

押风口!这些基金经理四季度就预测机器人板火爆

yā fēng kǒu ! zhè xiē jī jīn jīng lǐ sì jì dù jiù yù cè jī qì rén bǎn kuài huǒ bào

Press the wind! These fund managers predicted that the robot sector would be hot in the fourth quarter

百度新闻Feb 2026

上海这家人收了7万压岁钱!竟被家长弄丢了

shǎng hǎi zhè jiā rén shōu le mò kuài yā suì qián ! jìng bèi jiā cháng lòng diū le

This Shanghai family received 70,000 yuan of New Year's money! The parents lost it.

Tatoeba

还剩下多少三明治?

Hái shèngxià duōshao kuài sānmíngzhì?

How many sandwiches are there left?

Tatoeba

你能举起这石头吗?

Nǐ néng jǔqǐ zhè kuài shítou ma?

Can you lift this stone?

Tatoeba

你喜欢哪一?这还是那

Nǐ xǐhuan nǎ yīkuài? zhè kuài háishi nà kuài?

Which one do you prefer, this one or that one?

Tatoeba

我可以再吃一蛋糕吗?

Wǒ kěyǐ zài chī yīkuài dàngāo ma?

May I have another piece of cake?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kuài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 块 (kuài) mean in Chinese?
块 (kuài) primarily means "piece, lump." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #793 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 块 and 缺?
块 (kuài) and 缺 (quē) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 土 vs 缶 (same 夬 component).
How many strokes does 块 have?
块 is written with 7 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 块?
The radical associated with 块 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 块?
块 is composed of: 土 (semantic), 夬 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰土夬 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 块?
Common words with 块 include: 一块儿 (yī kuài r, "erhua variant of 一塊|一块[yi1 kuai4]"); 大块头 (dà kuài tóu, "heavy man"); 冰块 (bīng kuài, "ice cube"); 一块 (yī kuài, "a piece"); 块头 (kuài tóu, "size"). There are over 71 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 块 (kuài)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kuài: 快 (fast, happy), 筷 (chopstick). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 块 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 块 and the traditional form is 塊.

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.