墙 (qiáng): wall

墙 (qiáng) is a Chinese character meaning “wall.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic) and 啬 (phonetic). It ranks #1207 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 墙 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. wall

Etymology & Origin

墙

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿰土啬 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 墙

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
墙壁nounqiáng bìwall6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
防火墙nounfáng huǒ qiángfirewall
城墙nounchéng qiángcity wall
围墙nounwéi qiángperimeter wall
墙纸nounqiáng zhǐwallpaper
墙角nounqiáng jiǎocorner (junction of two walls)
墙头草phraseqiáng tóu cǎosb who goes whichever way the wind blows
人墙nounrén qiánghuman barricade
火墙huǒ qiángfirewall
承重墙chéng zhòng qiángload-bearing wall
铜墙铁壁phrasetóng qiáng tiě bìcopper wall, iron bastion (idiom)
骑墙verbqí qiángto sit on the fence (in a dispute)
挖墙脚verbwā qiáng jiǎoto undermine
幕墙nounmù qiángcurtain wall (architecture)
墙根nounqiáng gēnfoot of a wall
山墙nounshān qiánggable
63
Total compounds
19
As first character
63
As last character
17
As middle character

墙 appears in 63 compound words: 19 as the first character, 63 as the last, and 17 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 墙 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

砖zhuān
0.5542,534 co-occurrences
夯hāng
0.548458 co-occurrences
城chéng
0.54622,156 co-occurrences
壁bì
0.5304,875 co-occurrences
围wéi
0.5135,362 co-occurrences
砌qì
0.507896 co-occurrences
侧cè
0.4683,084 co-occurrences
挡dǎng
0.443356 co-occurrences
镶xiāng
0.428266 co-occurrences
塌tā
0.426522 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

柏林围墙Bólín WéiqiángHSK 7+

Berlin Wall

隔墙有耳géqiángyǒu'ěrHSK 5+

walls have ears

phrase
狗急跳墙gǒujítiàoqiángHSK 5+

one will take bold risks and desperate actions when forced into desperation

phrase
红杏出墙hóngxìngchūqiáng

to have an affair; to cheat on her husband

phrase
铜墙铁壁tóngqiángtiěbìHSK 6+

impregnable and indestructible wall or barrier; something very firm and indestructible

phrase
引水入墙yǐn shuǐ rù qiángHSK 5+

lit. to lead the water through the wall; to ask for trouble (idiom)

phrase
兄弟阋墙xiōngdìxìqiángHSK 5+

internal dispute

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这面墙需要重新粉刷,已经有很多地方剥落了。

Zhè miàn qiáng xūyào chóngxīn fěnshuā, yǐjīng yǒu hěn duō dìfang bōluò le.

This wall needs to be repainted; many places have already peeled off.

百度新闻Feb 2026

年味上墙!静安这幅“邻里新画卷”,让老小区变成了...

nián wèi shàng qiáng ! jìng ān zhè fú lín lǐ xīn huà juǎn , ràng lǎo xiǎo qū biàn chéng le . . .

New Year's flavor on the wall! Jing'an, a "new picture of the neighborhood", has turned the old community into...

百度新闻Feb 2026

【城事】外滩开关式人墙再次启用,分流客流确保平台上..

chéng shì wài tān kāi guān shì rén qiáng zài cì qǐ yòng , fēn liú kè liú què bǎo píng tái shàng . .

【City Affairs】The Bund switch-type human wall is used again to divert passenger flow to ensure that the platform is ensured:

百度新闻Feb 2026

穿门而过,引光而来——高墙内的新春

chuān mén ér guò , yǐn guāng ér lái gāo qiáng nèi de xīn chūn

Through the Door, Into the Light - Chinese New Year Inside the High Walls

百度新闻Feb 2026

高墙内外 别样新春

gāo qiáng nèi wài bié yàng xīn chūn

Inside and Outside the Walls: A Different Kind of Spring Festival

百度新闻Feb 2026

谱写春日序曲!明城墙遗址公园梅花绽放

pǔ xiě chūn rì xù qū ! míng chéng qiáng yí zhǐ gōng yuán méi huā zhàn fàng

Composing the Prelude to Spring! Plum Blossoms Bloom at Ming City Wall Ruins Park

Tatoeba

这不就是拆了东墙补西墙吗?

Zhè bù jiùshì chāi le dōng qiáng bǔ Xīqiáng ma?

Isn't this just tearing down the east wall to repair the west wall?

Tatoeba

晚了!墙上杂志就要发布了!

Wǎn le! qiáng shàng zázhì jiùyào fābù le!

Too late! The wall magazine is ready to be published!

Tatoeba

你从来不听,就好像我是在跟一堵墙说话。

Nǐ cóngláibù tīng, jiù hǎoxiàng wǒ shì zài gēn yī dǔ qiáng shuōhuà.

You never listen. Talking to you is like talking to a wall.

Tatoeba

她用绘画来装饰墙。

Tā yòng huìhuà lái zhuāngshì qiáng.

She decorated the wall with pictures.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced qiáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 墙 (qiáng) mean in Chinese?
墙 (qiáng) primarily means "wall." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1207 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 墙 have?
墙 is written with 14 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 墙?
The radical associated with 墙 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 墙?
墙 is composed of: 土 (semantic), 啬 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰土啬 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 墙?
Common words with 墙 include: 墙壁 (qiáng bì, "wall"); 防火墙 (fáng huǒ qiáng, "firewall"); 城墙 (chéng qiáng, "city wall"); 围墙 (wéi qiáng, "perimeter wall"); 墙纸 (qiáng zhǐ, "wallpaper"). There are over 63 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 墙 (qiáng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qiáng: 强 (stubborn), 枪 (gun), 抢 (to fight over), 腔 ((bound form) cavity), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 墙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 墙 and the traditional form is 墻.

Practice writing 墙 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.