跑 (pǎo): to run

跑 (pǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to run.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 足 (semantic) and 包 (phonetic). It ranks #864 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 跑 foot. Its radical form 足 (foot) appears in many related characters such as 跟 (gēn, follow, heel), 路 (lù, road), 足 (zú, foot).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to run

Etymology & Origin

跑

pictophoneticfoot

Decomposition: ⿰足包 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 跑

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
逃跑verbtáo pǎoto flee from sth6
跑步verbpǎo bùto run2
跑道nounpǎo dàoathletic track5
奔跑verbbēn pǎoto run6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
乱跑verbluàn pǎoto run around
跑车nounpǎo chēracing bicycle
赛跑nounsài pǎorace (running)
跑腿verbpǎo tuǐto run errands
跑题verbpǎo títo digress
起跑verbqǐ pǎoto start running
长跑nouncháng pǎolong-distance running
赶跑verbgǎn pǎoto drive away
起跑线nounqǐ pǎo xiànthe starting line (of a race)
跑遍pǎo biànto go everywhere
跑龙套verbpǎo lóng tàoto play a small role
小跑nounxiǎo pǎoto trot
东奔西跑phrasedōng bēn xī pǎoto run this way and that (idiom)
跑鞋nounpǎo xiérunning shoes
跑马verbpǎo mǎhorse race
94
Total compounds
55
As first character
34
As last character
11
As middle character

跑 appears in 94 compound words: 55 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 11 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 跑 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

逃táo
0.60315,250 co-occurrences
奔bēn
0.5196,170 co-occurrences
道dào
0.48627,902 co-occurrences
轿jiào
0.461424 co-occurrences
吧ba
0.4301,466 co-occurrences
滑huá
0.4192,054 co-occurrences
腿tuǐ
0.417876 co-occurrences
短duǎn
0.4143,686 co-occurrences
吓xià
0.398212 co-occurrences
步bù
0.3805,149 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

百米赛跑bǎi mǐ sài pǎoHSK 3+

100-meter dash

phrase
东奔西跑dōngbēnxīpǎoHSK 6+

to run this way and that; to rush about busily; to rush around

phrase
接力赛跑jiē lì sài pǎoHSK 3+

relay race

phrase
跑跑颠颠pǎo pǎo diān diānHSK 7+

to work hectically; to be on the go; to run around attending to various tasks

phrase
跑堂儿的pǎo táng r deHSK 4+

waiter

phrase
越野赛跑yuè yě sài pǎoHSK 6+

cross-country running

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

每天早上我都会去公园跑步,锻炼身体。

Měitiān zǎoshang wǒ dōu huì qù gōngyuán pǎobù, duànliàn shēntǐ.

Every morning I go to the park to run and exercise.

東森新聞Feb 2026

1.2万被带出场!她险遭性侵逃跑坠楼重伤 男子下场曝

1 . 2 wàn bèi dài chū chǎng ! tā xiǎn zāo xìng qīn táo pǎo zhuì lóu chóng shāng nán zǐ xià chǎng pù

12,000 were taken out! She was sexually assaulted and ran away, fell from the building and was seriously injured, and the man was exposed

Investing 香港Feb 2026

...core ISI重申Duolingo股票跑赢大盘评级,目标价330美元

. . . c o r e I S I chóng shēn D u o l i n g o gǔ piào pǎo yíng dà pán píng jí , mù biāo jià 3 3 0 měi yuán

... core ISI reiterated an Outperform rating on shares of Duolingo with a price target of $330

東森新聞Feb 2026

新北市长选战开跑! 李四川:让我回新北服务

xīn běi shì cháng xuǎn zhàn kāi pǎo ! lǐ sì chuān : ràng wǒ huí xīn běi fú wù

The New Taipei City mayoral election campaign begins! Li Sichuan: Let me go back to New Taipei to serve

百度新闻Feb 2026

...|全天综合:中国速滑再迎突破 中井亚美领跑花..

. . . quán tiān zèng gě zhōng guó sù huá zài yíng tū pò zhōng jǐng yà měi lǐng pǎo huā . .

... |All Day Roundup: China's speed skating breaks through again, Nakai Ami leads the way in flower...

百度新闻Feb 2026

春晚这扇“窗”,照见中国机器人产业“跑”出倍速

chūn wǎn zhè shān chuāng , zhào jiàn zhōng guó jī qì rén chǎn yè pǎo chū bèi sù

The Spring Festival Gala serves as a window revealing China's robotics industry accelerating at a rapid pace.

Tatoeba

那个学生跑得很快,不是吗?

Nèige xuésheng pǎo de hěn kuài, bù shì ma?

That student runs fast, doesn't he?

Tatoeba

船和火车哪个跑得快?

Chuán hé huǒchē nǎge pǎo de kuài?

Which goes faster, a ship or a train?

Tatoeba

那个朝我们跑过来的男孩是谁?

Nàge cháo wǒmen pǎo guòlai de nánhái shì shéi?

Who is that boy running toward us?

Tatoeba

我可以跟你一起跑吗?

Wǒ kěyǐ gēn nǐ yīqǐ pǎo ma?

May I run with you?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 足 (foot) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced pǎo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 跑 (pǎo) mean in Chinese?
跑 (pǎo) primarily means "to run." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #864 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 跑 and 胞?
跑 (pǎo) and 胞 (bāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 足 vs 肉 (same 包 component).
How many strokes does 跑 have?
跑 is written with 12 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 跑?
The radical associated with 跑 is 足 (foot). This radical appears in many characters related to foot.
What are the components of 跑?
跑 is composed of: 足 (semantic), 包 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰足包 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 跑?
Common words with 跑 include: 逃跑 (táo pǎo, "to flee from sth"); 跑步 (pǎo bù, "to run"); 乱跑 (luàn pǎo, "to run around"); 跑道 (pǎo dào, "athletic track"); 跑车 (pǎo chē, "racing bicycle"). There are over 94 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 跑 (pǎo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation pǎo: 炮 (cannon, firecracker), 泡 (bubble), 抛 (to throw), 袍 (robe). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 跑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 跑 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 跑 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.