魁 (kuí): chief, head, outstanding
魁 (kuí) is a Chinese character meaning “chief.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 鬼 (structural) and 斗 (structural). It ranks #2489 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 魁 one who fought 斗 a ghost 鬼; 鬼 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 鬼 (ghost) appears in many related characters such as 鬼 (guǐ, disembodied spirit), 魂 (hún, soul), 魄 (pò, (literary) soul).
Definitions
- chief
- head
- outstanding
Etymology & Origin
ideographicOne who fought 斗 a ghost 鬼; 鬼 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿺鬼斗 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 魁 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 罪魁祸首phrase | zuì kuí huò shǒu | (idiom) criminal ringleader |
| 魁梧adjective | kuí wú | tall and sturdy |
| 夺魁verb | duó kuí | to win the championship |
| 易洛魁 | yì luò kuí | Iroquois |
| 花魁noun | huā kuí | the queen of flowers (refers esp. to plum blossom) |
| 党魁noun | dǎng kuí | party boss |
| 罪魁noun | zuì kuí | criminal ringleader |
| 魁北克市proper-noun | kuí běi kè shì | Quebec city, capital of Quebec province of Canada |
| 魁北克proper-noun | kuí běi kè | Quebec province, Canada |
| 祸首罪魁 | huò shǒu zuì kuí | see 罪魁禍首|罪魁祸首 |
| 魁首noun | kuí shǒu | chief |
| 魁元 | kuí yuán | brightest and best |
| 魁星 | kuí xīng | stars of the Big Dipper that constitute the rectangular body of the dipper |
| 魁星阁 | kuí xīng gé | temple to Kuixing, Daoist God of fate |
| 临魁 | lín kuí | Linkui (c. 2000 BC), second of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 F... |
魁 appears in 18 compound words: 50 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 6 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 魁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
写好魁字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。
xiě hǎo kuí zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .
To write the character "魁" correctly, one must master the proper stroke order.
罪魁祸首就是反复冻融。
zuì kuí huò shǒu jiù shì fǎn fù dòng róng .
The main culprit is repeated freeze-thaw cycles.
作为主要 AI 基础设施提供商，微软当然也是造成今天这一局面的罪魁祸首之一了。
zuò wéi zhǔ yāo A I jī chǔ shè shī tí gōng shāng , wēi ruǎn dāng rán yě shì zào chéng jīn tiān zhè yī jú miàn de zuì kuí huò shǒu zhī yī le .
As a major provider of AI infrastructure, Microsoft is, of course, one of the main culprits behind the current situation.
美国最大电网电价一年间近乎翻倍，数据中心成罪魁祸首
měi guó zuì dà diàn wǎng diàn jià yī nián jiān jìn hū fān bèi , shǔ jù zhōng xīn chéng zuì kuí huò shǒu
Electricity prices on the U.S.'s largest power grid have nearly doubled in a year, with data centers cited as the main culprit
时任国民党军官的张云魁带领战士英勇抗日，可惜还是全旅阵亡了。
shí rèn guó mín dǎng jūn guān de zhāng yún kuí dài lǐng zhàn shì yīng yǒng kàng rì , kě xī hái shì quán lǚ zhèn wáng le .
Zhang Yunkuai, then a Kuomintang officer, led his soldiers in a heroic fight against the Japanese, but unfortunately, the entire brigade was wiped out.
而这背后的罪魁祸首，正是 肥胖 。
ér zhè bèi hòu de zuì kuí huò shǒu , zhèng shì féi pàng .
And the main culprit behind all this is none other than obesity.
我们都不认为他是事故的罪魁祸首。
Wǒmen dōu bù rènwéi tā shì shìgù de zuìkuíhuòshǒu.
None of us thought he was to blame for the accident.
听起来好像他是这场灾难的罪魁祸首。
Tīngqilai hǎoxiàng tā shì zhè chǎng zāinàn de zuìkuíhuòshǒu.
It sounds as if he were to blame for the disaster.
自由魁北克万岁！
Zìyóu Kuíběikè wànsuì!
Long live free Quebec!
这前所未闻, 犯罪嫌疑人的律师竟然是真正的罪魁祸首。
Zhè qiánsuǒwèiwén, fànzuì xiányírén de lǜshī jìngrán shì zhēnzhèng de zuìkuíhuòshǒu.
It's totally without precedent for the suspect's attorney to be the true culprit.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 魁 (kuí) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 魁 have?
What is the radical of 魁?
What are the components of 魁?
What are common words containing 魁?
What characters sound the same as 魁 (kuí)?
Is 魁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 魁 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.