(kuò): (bound form) to tie up, to tighten up, (bound form) to include, to comprise, to put (text) in brackets

(kuò) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) to tie up.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #850 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, hand. Its radical form (hand) appears in many related characters such as (shǒu, hand), (, hit, make), (zhǎo, to look for).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) to tie up
  2. to tighten up
  3. (bound form) to include
  4. to comprise
  5. to put (text) in brackets

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌舌 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
verbbāo kuòto comprise5
verb/adjectivegài kuòto summarize5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
kuò yuē jīsphincter
kuò hàoparentheses
náng kuòto include
yuán kuò hàoparentheses
fāng kuò hàosquare brackets [ ]
sōu kuòsee 搜刮[sou1 gua1]
fāng tóu kuò hàolenticular brackets (【】 or 〖〗)
dà kuò hàobraces
zhōng kuò hàosquare brackets [ ]
xiǎo kuò hàoround brackets
zǒng kuòto sum up
huā kuò hàobraces
ěr guā zivariant of 耳刮子[er3 gua1 zi5]
liù jiǎo kuò hàotortoise shell brackets 〔〕
gài kuò huàgeneralization
29
Total compounds
17
As first character
41
As last character
41
As middle character

appears in 29 compound words: 17 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 41 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.

bāo
0.9602,707,465 co-occurrences
0.482212,652 co-occurrences
náng
0.46912,676 co-occurrences
hái
0.39139,462 co-occurrences
0.3873,702 co-occurrences
shǔ
0.38547,916 co-occurrences
0.383164,856 co-occurrences
gài
0.36617,202 co-occurrences
zhōng
0.358249,240 co-occurrences
0.34978,510 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

妈妈着孩子的手,慢慢地过马路。

mā mā kuò zhe hái zǐ de shǒu , màn màn dì guò mǎ lù .

Mom held her child's hand as they slowly crossed the street.

99 健康网Feb 2026

老年人不硬最简单处理方法包饮食吗?多吃深海鱼和坚果有帮助吗

lǎo nián rén bù yìng zuì jiǎn dān chǔ lǐ fāng fǎ bāo kuò yǐn shí ma ? duō chī shēn hǎi yú hé jiān guǒ yǒu bāng zhù ma

Is the easiest way to deal with the elderly not hard include diet? Does eating more deep-sea fish and nuts help?

99 健康网Feb 2026

孕妇一边喂奶一边做dna的注意事项包饮食吗?检测前需空腹或忌口吗

yùn fù yī biān wéi nǎi yī biān zuò d n a de zhù yì shì xiàng bāo kuò yǐn shí ma ? jiǎn cè qián xū kōng fù huò jì kǒu ma

Do precautions for pregnant women to do DNA while breastfeeding include diet? Do you need to be on an empty stomach or avoid eating before testing?

99 健康网Feb 2026

宫腔内低回声有几种可能?包妊娠囊、血块或小肌瘤吗

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

Intimes NewsFeb 2026

大马人 即日起飞英必须要有电子旅行授权

bāo kuò dà mǎ rén jí rì qǐ fēi yīng bì xū yāo yǒu diàn zǐ lǚ háng shòu quán

Including Malaysians, from now on, flying to the UK must have an electronic travel authorization

99 健康网Feb 2026

低糖食品推荐大全包什么?每日碳水控制在多少合适

dī táng shí pǐn tuī jiàn dà quán bāo kuò shén má ? měi rì tàn shuǐ kòng zhì zài duō shǎo gě shì

What does the recommended low-sugar food include? How much is the appropriate amount of carbohydrates per day

Tatoeba

他的薪水包基本工资和提成。

Tā de xīnshuǐ bāokuò jīběn gōngzī hé tíchéng.

His remuneration consists of a base salary plus commissions.

Tatoeba

我们经营各种书籍,包新的和旧的。

Wǒmen jīngyíng gèzhǒng shūjí, bāokuò xīn de hé jiù de.

We handle all type of books, both new and old.

Tatoeba

蝙蝠的食物主要包昆虫和水果。

Biānfú de shíwù zhǔyào bāokuò kūnchóng hé shuǐguǒ.

The bat's diet consists mainly of insects and fruit.

Tatoeba

风俗习惯包食物,庆祝和舞蹈。

Fēngsú xíguàn bāokuò shíwù, qìngzhù hé wǔdǎo.

Customs include food, celebrations and dancing.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kuò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 括 (kuò) mean in Chinese?
括 (kuò) primarily means "(bound form) to tie up." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #850 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 括 and 下?
括 (kuò) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 括 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 括 have?
括 is written with 9 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 括?
The radical associated with 括 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 括?
括 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 舌 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌舌 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 括?
Common words with 括 include: 包括 (bāo kuò, "to comprise"); 概括 (gài kuò, "to summarize"); 括约肌 (kuò yuē jī, "sphincter"); 括号 (kuò hào, "parentheses"); 囊括 (náng kuò, "to include"). There are over 29 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 括 (kuò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kuò: 扩 (to expand), 阔 (wide, broad), 廓 ((bound form) extensive). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 括 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 括 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.