(qīn): parent, one's own (flesh and blood), relative

(qīn) is a Chinese character meaning “parent.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural). It ranks #362 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a tree 木 bearing fruit 立. Its radical form (lid) appears in many related characters such as (jīng, capital city of a country), (jiāo, to hand over), (liàng, bright).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. parent
  2. one's own (flesh and blood)
  3. relative

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA tree 木 bearing fruit 立

Decomposition: ⿱立⿻一小 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:structural

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
adjectiveqīn àidear5
nounfù qīnfather4
nounmǔ qīnmother4
adverbqīn zìpersonally5
adjectiveqīn mìintimate6
nounqīn rénone's close relatives5
nounqīn qia relative (i.e. family relation)4
adjectiveqīn qièamiable5
nounqīn shǔkin6
nounqīn qíngaffection5
qīn péng hǎo yǒufriends and family5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qīn yǎnwith one's own eyes
qīn wěnto kiss
qīn shǒupersonally
qīn jìnintimate
qīn shēngone's own (child) (i.e. one's child by birth)
qīn rèaffectionate
qīn kǒuone's own mouth
qīn shēnpersonal
xiāng qīnblind date
shuāng qīnboth parents
qīn yǒufriends and relatives
qīn bǐin one's own handwriting
biǎo qīncousin (via female line)
dān qīnsingle parent
jìn qīnclose relative
100
Total compounds
50
As first character
47
As last character
3
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 50 as the first character, 47 as the last, and 3 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.

0.706296,237 co-occurrences
0.645203,235 co-occurrences
0.55212,710 co-occurrences
yuán
0.4749,630 co-occurrences
ǎi
0.461568 co-occurrences
shǔ
0.44137,908 co-occurrences
wáng
0.43363,444 co-occurrences
0.4275,574 co-occurrences
0.4262,454 co-occurrences
0.40070,314 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (19)

dàyìmièqīnHSK 6+

to place righteousness before family; to be ready to punish one's own family if justice demands it

phrase
dānqīn jiātíngHSK 4+

single-parent family

noun
fēiqīnfēigùHSK 4+

to be neither relatives nor friends

phrase
gē gǔ liáo qīnHSK 6+

to cut flesh from one's thigh to nourish a sick parent (idiom); filial thigh-cutting

phrase
hé'ǎikěqīnHSK 7+

affable; approachable

phrase
huángqīnguóqīHSK 6+

member of royalty or royal household; royal person; person having powerful connections

phrase
jǔmùwúqīnHSK 4+

to be a lonely stranger in a strange land with no one to depend on

phrase
liùqīnbùrènHSK 4+

to not recognise any of one's relatives

phrase
liù qīn wú kàoHSK 5+

orphaned of all one's immediate relatives (idiom); no one to rely on; left to one's own devices

phrase
qīn ài jīng chéngHSK 4+

camaraderie

phrase
qīnpénghǎoyǒuHSK 4+

friends and relatives; kith and kin

noun
使qīn shàn dà shǐHSK 5+

goodwill ambassador

phrase

Showing 12 of 19 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo qīn zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "亲" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

WorldjournalFeb 2026

中国公务员春节参加相 炫富有宾利、保时捷、房子很多

zhōng guó gōng wù yuán chūn jié cān jiā xiāng qīn xuàn fù yǒu bīn lì , bǎo shí jié , fáng zǐ hěn duō

Chinese civil servants participate in the blind date during the Spring Festival and show off their wealth Bentley, Porsche, and many houses

東方日報Feb 2026

公务员上相节目 夸大资产被批评教育

gōng wù yuán shàng xiāng qīn jié mù kuā dà zī chǎn bèi pī píng jiào yù

Civil servants on blind date shows are criticized for exaggerating assets and education

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

...勋疑吃Karina豆腐!被目击揉她手指 喊冤:我手痒

. . . xūn yí chī K a r i n a dòu fǔ ! bèi mù jī róu tā shǒu zhǐ qīn hǎn yuān : wǒ shǒu yǎng

... Hoon suspected of eating Karina tofu! was witnessed rubbing her fingers and shouting injustice: My hands itch

百度新闻Feb 2026

上海乐高乐园度假区首个春节表现亮眼,成子家庭出行..

shàng hǎi lè gāo lè yuán dù jiǎ qū shǒu gè chūn jié biǎo xiàn liàng yǎn , chéng qīn zǐ jiā tíng chū háng . .

Shanghai Legoland Resort's first Spring Festival performance is eye-catching, and parents and children travel as a family:

百度新闻Feb 2026

教师发成绩工具Top1-5榜单,一线教师测5款发..

jiào shī fā chéng jì gōng jù T o p 1 5 bǎng dān , yī xiàn jiào shī qīn cè 5 kuǎn fā . .

Teachers issue the top 1-5 list of grade tools, and 5 front-line teachers personally test 5 types:

Tatoeba

你是不是长岛家的戚?

Nǐ shì bù shì Chángdǎo jiā de qīnqi?

Are you related to the Nagashimas?

Tatoeba

你是汤姆的母吗?

Nǐ shì Tāngmǔ de mǔqīn ma?

Are you Tom's mother?

Tatoeba

你在波兰有人朋友吗?

Nǐ zài Bōlán yǒu qīnrén péngyou ma?

Do you have family or friends in Poland?

Tatoeba

她对谁都很和蔼可

Tā duì shéi dōu hěn hé'ǎi-kěqīn.

She is gracious to everyone.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qīn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 亲 (qīn) mean in Chinese?
亲 (qīn) primarily means "parent." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #362 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 亲 have?
亲 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 亲?
The radical associated with 亲 is 亠 (lid). This radical appears in many characters related to lid.
What are the components of 亲?
亲 is composed of: 立 (structural), undefined (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱立⿻一小 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 亲?
Common words with 亲 include: 亲爱 (qīn ài, "dear"); 父亲 (fù qīn, "father"); 母亲 (mǔ qīn, "mother"); 亲自 (qīn zì, "personally"); 亲密 (qīn mì, "intimate"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 亲 (qīn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qīn: 侵 (to invade), 钦 (to respect), 秦 (Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) of the first emperor 秦始皇), 琴 (guqin 古琴 (a type of zither)), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 亲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 亲 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.