来 (lái): to come, (used as a substitute for a more specific verb), hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5])

来 (lái) is a Chinese character meaning “to come.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 未 (structural) and 丷 (structural). It ranks #15 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 来 a wheat plant that has not yet borne fruit; compare 來. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation
HSK 1Radical: 木 tree7 strokesFrequency #15未 structural丷 structural

Definitions

  1. to come
  2. (used as a substitute for a more specific verb)
  3. hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5])

Etymology & Origin

来

ideographicA wheat plant that has not yet borne fruit; compare 來

Decomposition: ⿻未丷 (layout: overlay)

Components:未structural丷structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 来

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
起来verbqǐ laito stand up2
回来verbhuí laito return2
出来verbchū láito come out2
过来verbguò láito come over2
下来verbxià laito come down2
从来adverbcóng láialways4
看来verbkàn laiapparently3
进来verbjìn láito come in2
来自verblái zìto come from (a place)3
本来adjective/adverbběn láioriginal4
未来adjective/nounwèi láifuture5
原来noun/adjective/adverbyuán láioriginal4
后来nounhòu láiafterwards3
以来nounyǐ láisince (a previous event)5
到来verbdào láito arrive4
将来nounjiāng láiin the future4
来源noun/verblái yuánsource (of information etc)5
用来verbyòng láito be used for4
上来verbshàng láito come up2
来临verblái línto approach6
来不及verblái bu jíthere's not enough time (to do sth)4
来得及verblái de jíto have enough time4
前来verbqián láito come (formal)5
近来nounjìn láirecently6
来往verblái wǎngto come and go6
外来adjectivewài láiexternal6
往来verbwǎng láidealings6
自来水nounzì lái shuǐrunning water6
由来nounyóu láiorigin6
近年来jìn nián láifor the past few years5
100
Total compounds
45
As first character
54
As last character
1
As middle character

来 appears in 100 compound words: 45 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 1 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 来 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

源yuán
0.581341,475 co-occurrences
后hòu
0.550514,650 co-occurrences
马mǎ
0.518201,012 co-occurrences
自zì
0.512463,680 co-occurrences
带dài
0.493107,100 co-occurrences
说shuō
0.491122,388 co-occurrences
亚yà
0.484159,378 co-occurrences
越yuè
0.479118,933 co-occurrences
未wèi
0.445155,243 co-occurrences
看kàn
0.42979,054 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (52)

不请自来bùqǐngzìláiHSK 2+

to turn up without being invited

phrase
从实招来cóngshízhāoláiHSK 4+

to confess the truth; to tell the truth; to come clean

verb
大日如来Dàrì RúláiHSK 3+

Vairocana

颠来倒去diān lái dǎo qùHSK 7+

to harp on; over and over; merely ring changes on a few terms

phrase
独来独往dúláidúwǎngHSK 5+

to be a loner; to be alone and avoid the company of others

phrase
对我来说duì wǒ lái shuōHSK 1+

in my opinion; as far as I'm concerned; to my mind; the way I see it

phrase
翻来覆去fānláifùqùHSK 6+

toss and turn sleeplessly; repeat; again and again

phrase
飞来横祸fēiláihènghuòHSK 6+

unexpected disaster that suddenly befalls

phrase
否极泰来pǐjítàiláiHSK 7+

extreme adversity marks the beginning of fortune; when worse comes to the worst, things will turn for the better

phrase
古往今来gǔwǎngjīnláiHSK 5+

through the ages; from antiquity to modernity

phrase
继往开来jìwǎngkāiláiHSK 4+

to carry on predecessors' work and open up a new path for posterity

verb
卷土重来juǎntǔchóngláiHSK 5+

to stage a comeback after regaining one's strength

phrase

Showing 12 of 52 idioms containing 来.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

春天来了，公园里的花儿都开了，吸引了许多游客前来观赏。

Chūntiān lái le, gōngyuán lǐ de huār dōu kāi le, xīyǐn le xǔduō yóukè qiánlái guānshǎng.

Spring has come, the flowers in the park have all bloomed, attracting many visitors to come and enjoy.

百度新闻Feb 2026

排山倒海 扑面而来!六百只宋代瓷碗在这叠成墙

pái shān dǎo hǎi pū miàn ér lái ! liù bǎi zhī sòng dài cí wǎn zài zhè dié chéng qiáng

Overwhelming and coming! Six hundred Song Dynasty porcelain bowls are stacked on this wall

百度新闻Feb 2026

视频丨繁荣昌盛,越来越好!这个春节听听大家给祖国的..

shì pín 丨 fán róng chāng shèng , yuè lái yuè hǎo ! zhè gè chūn jié tīng tīng dà jiā gěi zǔ guó de . .

Video丨Prosperity and prosperity, getting better and better! This Spring Festival, listen to what everyone has for the motherland:

百度新闻Feb 2026

一路走来,到了春节!上海静安祝您龙马精神、马到成...

yī lù zǒu lái , dào le chūn jié ! shǎng hǎi jìng ān zhù nín lóng mǎ jīng shén mǎ dào chéng . . .

All the way to the Spring Festival! Shanghai Jing'an wishes you the best of luck...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春纳福迎新,就来凯德虹口商业中心,福气好物一站式..

xīn chūn nà fú yíng xīn , jiù lái kǎi dé hóng kǒu shāng yè zhōng xīn , fú qì hǎo wù yī zhàn shì . .

Come to CapitaLand Hongkou Commercial Center for a one-stop shop for good fortune and good fortune....

百度新闻Feb 2026

子弟兵给您送祝福啦,快来签收!

zǐ dì bīng gěi nín sòng zhù fú lā , kuài lái qiān shōu !

Our troops are sending you blessings—come sign for them!

Tatoeba

我回来了！啊？我们有客人啊？

Wǒ huílai le! ā? wǒmen yǒu kèrén ā?

I'm back! Oh? Have we got a guest?

Tatoeba

这是不是意味着你不会来了？

Zhè shìbùshì yìwèizhe nǐ bù huì lái le?

Does that mean you won't come?

Tatoeba

他来这里的目的是什么？

Tā lái zhèlǐ de mùdì shì shénme?

For what purpose did he come here?

Tatoeba

要不要再来一些沙拉？

Yàobù yào zài lái yīxiē shālā?

Would you like some more salad?

Character Family

木 Radical Family — Characters sharing the tree radical

杯bēi本běn果guǒ机jī楼lóu树shù条tiáo校jiào样yàng桌zhuō

Related Characters

本běn机jī条tiáo杯bēi果guǒ树shù校jiào样yàng桌zhuō楼lóu

Homophones — Characters pronounced lái

赖lài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 来 (lái) mean in Chinese?
来 (lái) primarily means "to come." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #15 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 来 and 上?
来 (lái) and 上 (shàng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 来 (come) vs 上 (go).
How many strokes does 来 have?
来 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 来?
The radical associated with 来 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 来?
来 is composed of: 未 (structural), 丷 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻未丷 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 来?
Common words with 来 include: 起来 (qǐ lai, "to stand up"); 回来 (huí lai, "to return"); 出来 (chū lái, "to come out"); 过来 (guò lái, "to come over"); 下来 (xià lai, "to come down"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 来 (lái)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lái: 赖 ((Tw) (coll.) LINE messaging app). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 来 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 来 and the traditional form is 來.

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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.