旷 (kuàng): to neglect, to skip (class or work), to waste (time)

旷 (kuàng) is a Chinese character meaning “to neglect.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 日 (structural) and 广 (structural). It ranks #2591 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 旷 a wide 广 plain under the sun 日; 广 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 日 (sun) appears in many related characters such as 日 (rì, sun, day), 早 (zǎo, early, morning), 时 (shí, time, hour).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to neglect
  2. to skip (class or work)
  3. to waste (time)

Etymology & Origin

旷

ideographicA wide 广 plain under the sun 日; 广 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰日广 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
空旷adjectivekōng kuàngspacious and empty
旷野nounkuàng yěwilderness
旷课verbkuàng kèto play truant
旷工verbkuàng gōngto skip work
心旷神怡phrasexīn kuàng shén yílit. heart untroubled, spirit pleased (idiom)
旷日持久phrasekuàng rì chí jiǔprotracted (idiom)
旷古nounkuàng gǔsince the dawn of time
旷古未有kuàng gǔ wèi yǒunever before in the whole of history (idiom)
旷时摄影kuàng shí shè yǐngtime-lapse photography
旷古未闻kuàng gǔ wèi wénnever before in the whole of history (idiom)
旷地kuàng dìopen space
开旷adjectivekāi kuàngopen and vast
高旷adjectivegāo kuànghigh and wide
旷世adjectivekuàng shìincomparable
旷代kuàng dàiunrivalled
27
Total compounds
67
As first character
26
As last character
7
As middle character

旷 appears in 27 compound words: 67 as the first character, 26 as the last, and 7 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 旷 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

久jiǔ
0.448542 co-occurrences
野yě
0.442703 co-occurrences
娇jiāo
0.42724 co-occurrences
魏wèi
0.397168 co-occurrences
课kè
0.39590 co-occurrences
持chí
0.380552 co-occurrences
陈chén
0.378170 co-occurrences
怡yí
0.37858 co-occurrences
熏xūn
0.37510 co-occurrences
兔tù
0.36938 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

旷古未闻kuàng gǔ wèi wénHSK 7+

never before in the whole of history (idiom); unprecedented; also written 曠古未有|旷古未有

phrase
旷古未有kuàng gǔ wèi yǒuHSK 7+

never before in the whole of history (idiom); unprecedented

phrase
旷日持久kuàngrìchíjiǔHSK 7+

long-drawn-out; protracted

phrase
心旷神怡xīnkuàngshényíHSK 7+

carefree and joyous; relaxed and happy

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

旷复一日,他坚持早起锻炼身体。

kuàng fù yī rì , tā jiān chí zǎo qǐ duàn liàn shēn tī .

Day after day, he persisted in getting up early to exercise.

少数派Aug 2026

就又查资料换遥控器和接收机,空旷地方可以跑到一两公里了。

jiù yòu chá zī liào huàn yáo kòng qì hé jiē shōu jī , kōng kuàng dì fāng kě yǐ pǎo dào yī liǎng gōng lǐ le .

So I looked up some information and replaced the remote control and receiver; now it can travel one or two kilometers in open areas.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

草原女射手:执弓向旷野,胜负皆淡然

cǎo yuán nǚ shè shǒu : zhí gōng xiàng kuàng yě , shèng fù jiē dàn rán

The Female Archer of the Grasslands: With Bow in Hand, She Heads into the Wilderness, Unfazed by Victory or Defeat

少数派Aug 2026

后来换到显示器右边更空旷的区域,问题才解决。

hòu lái huàn dào xiǎn shì qì yòu biān gēng kōng kuàng de qū yù , wèn tí cái jiě jué .

It wasn't until I moved it to a more open area on the right side of the monitor that the problem was resolved.

少数派Aug 2026

看起来你似乎处于劣势,但你面对的可能是更空旷的赛道、更干净的“气流”。

kàn qǐ lái nǐ sì hū chǔ yú liè shì , dàn nǐ miàn duì de kě néng shì gēng kōng kuàng de sài dào , gēng gān jìng de qì liú .

It looks like you're at a disadvantage, but you might actually be facing a more open track and cleaner "airflow."

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

贾樟柯式美学:音乐一响 他便拥有整片旷野

gǔ 樟 柯 shì měi xué : yīn lè yī xiǎng tā biàn yōng yǒu zhěng piàn kuàng yě

Jia Zhangke’s Aesthetic: The Moment the Music Plays, He Possesses the Entire Wilderness

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kuàng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 旷 (kuàng) mean in Chinese?
旷 (kuàng) primarily means "to neglect." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2591 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 旷 have?
旷 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 旷?
The radical associated with 旷 is 日 (sun). This radical appears in many characters related to sun.
What are the components of 旷?
旷 is composed of: 日 (structural), 广 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰日广 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 旷?
Common words with 旷 include: 空旷 (kōng kuàng, "spacious and empty"); 旷野 (kuàng yě, "wilderness"); 旷课 (kuàng kè, "to play truant"); 旷工 (kuàng gōng, "to skip work"); 心旷神怡 (xīn kuàng shén yí, "lit. heart untroubled, spirit pleased (idiom)"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 旷 (kuàng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kuàng: 况 (moreover), 狂 (mad), 矿 (mine, ore), 框 (frame (e.g. door frame)), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 旷 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 旷 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 旷 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.