(píng): flat, level, equal

(píng) is a Chinese character meaning “flat.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #215 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, a leveling scale. Its radical form (dry) appears in many related characters such as (gān, dry), (nián, year), (bìng, and).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. flat
  2. level
  3. equal

Etymology & Origin

pictographicA leveling scale

Decomposition: ⿻干丷 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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
adjectivegōng píngfair5
nounhé píngpeace6
nounshuǐ pínghorizontal3
adjectivepíng jìngtranquil5
adjective/nounpíng chángordinary4
nounpíng shíordinarily3
adjective/verbpíng héngbalance5
adjectivepíng ānsafe and sound5
adjectivepíng děngequal6
verb/adjectivepíng jūnaverage5
adjectivepíng fáncommonplace6
nounpíng táiplatform5
noun/measurepíng fāngsquare (as in square foot, square mile, square root)6
measurepíng fāng mǐsquare meter6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bǎi píngto be fair
píng júa draw (in competition)
píng fēnto divide evenly
píng hégentle
píng dànflat
píng dìto level the land
fǔ píngto flatten
píng bǎnslab
píng fùto calm down
píng huáflat and smooth
píng fángbungalow
píng báifor no reason
biǎn píngflat
lā píngto bring to the same level
píng dìngto pacify
100
Total compounds
56
As first character
44
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 56 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 0 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.

qiān
0.667767,508 co-occurrences
jūn
0.666748,854 co-occurrences
fāng
0.6591,849,854 co-occurrences
0.6331,012,416 co-occurrences
héng
0.563123,665 co-occurrences
0.560771,312 co-occurrences
měi
0.549417,630 co-occurrences
gōng
0.501862,632 co-occurrences
yáng
0.501174,727 co-occurrences
shēng
0.492819,444 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (34)

āotūbùpíngHSK 7+

uneven; bumpy

phrase
bàodǎbùpíngHSK 4+

synonym of 打抱不平 (dǎbàobùpíng)

phrase
bùpíngzémíngHSK 7+

injustice provokes outcry; where there is injustice, there will be protest

phrase
chí píng zhī lùnHSK 4+

fair argument; unbiased view

phrase
chōngjī píngyuánHSK 5+

alluvial plain

noun
dǎbàobùpíngHSK 4+

to take up the cudgels for the injured party; to defend somebody against an injustice

phrase
Dōng'ōu PíngyuánHSK 5+

East European Plain

fěnshìtàipíngHSK 6+

to present a false picture of peace and cover up the ongoing turmoil in society

phrase
fènfènbùpíngHSK 6+

to feel aggrieved; to be indignant

phrase
fēngpínglàngjìngHSK 4+

to have no waves; calm; smooth; peaceful

phrase
gēwǔshēngpíngHSK 5+

prosperous and peaceful

phrase
gōng píng jiāo yìHSK 3+

fair dealing

phrase

Showing 12 of 34 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

píng zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "平" has different usages in different contexts.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

惠理:金价跌返4900水可吸

huì lǐ : jīn jià diē fǎn 4 9 0 0 shuǐ píng kě xī

Value Partners: The price of gold can be absorbed when it falls back to the 4900 level

LtnFeb 2026

中职》工藤改造的吕彦青首秀“期待以下” 野惠一解释原因

zhōng zhí gōng téng gǎi zào de lǚ 彦 qīng shǒu xiù qī dài yǐ xià píng yě huì yī jiě shì yuán yīn

"Secondary Vocational School" Kudo transformation's Lu Yanqing's debut "looking forward to the following" Keiichi Hirano explained the reason

工商時報Feb 2026

日本“猫经济”直逼3兆日圆 几乎追大阪世博

rì běn māo jīng jì zhí bī 3 zhào rì yuán jī hū zhuī píng dà 阪 shì bó

Japan's "cat economy" is approaching 3 trillion yen, almost tying the Osaka World Expo

百度新闻Feb 2026

...年初三车间灯就亮了,航天老厂通过自研AI台,稳..

. . . nián chū sān chē jiān dēng jiù liàng le , háng tiān lǎo hǎn tōng guò zì yán A I píng tái , wěn . .

... On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the workshop lights were turned on, and the old aerospace factory was stable through the self-developed AI platform.

百度新闻Feb 2026

马到安|拒绝 “人从众” 伤害,春节防踩踏 ...

mǎ dào píng ān jù jué rén cóng zhòng shāng hài , chūn jié fáng cǎi tà . . .

Horse to Ping'an|Refuse to "follow the crowd" injury, Spring Festival anti-stampede ...

Tatoeba

你觉得我们应该为世界和做些什么?

Nǐ juéde wǒmen yīnggāi wèi shìjièhépíng zuò xiē shénme?

What do you think we should do to make for world peace?

Tatoeba

选手们的均身高是多少?

Xuǎnshǒu men de píngjūn shēngāo shì duōshao?

What's the average height of the players?

Tatoeba

人生是不公的,是吧?

Rénshēng shì bù gōngpíng de, shì ba?

Life isn't fair, is it?

Tatoeba

均一分钟眨几次眼睛?

Rén píngjūn yī fēnzhōng zhǎ jǐcì yǎnjing?

How many times a minute does the average person blink?

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the dry radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced píng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 平 (píng) mean in Chinese?
平 (píng) primarily means "flat." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #215 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 平 have?
平 is written with 5 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 平?
The radical associated with 平 is 干 (dry). This radical appears in many characters related to dry.
What are the components of 平?
平 is composed of: 干 (structural), 丷 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻干丷 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 平?
Common words with 平 include: 公平 (gōng píng, "fair"); 和平 (hé píng, "peace"); 水平 (shuǐ píng, "horizontal"); 平静 (píng jìng, "tranquil"); 平常 (píng cháng, "ordinary"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 平 (píng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation píng: 乒 ((onom.) ping), 评 (to evaluate, to comment), 凭 (to lean against), 坪 (a plain), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 平 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 平 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.