(qín): diligent, industrious, hardworking, frequent, regular, constant, (bound form) work, duty, attendance

(qín) is a Chinese character meaning “diligent.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1555 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, strength. Its radical form (power) appears in many related characters such as (dòng, (of sth) to move), (, power), (bàn, to take care of (a matter)).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. diligent
  2. industrious
  3. hardworking
  4. frequent
  5. regular
  6. constant
  7. (bound form) work
  8. duty
  9. attendance

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticstrength

Decomposition: ⿰堇力 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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
adjectiveqín fènhardworking5
adjectiveqín láohardworking6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wài qínwork done in the field (rather than in the office or at the headquarters)
xīn qínhardworking
zhí qínto be on duty (of a security guard etc)
hòu qínlogistics
chū qínto go to work
qín wùservice
xiàn yīn qínto be particularly attentive to (an attractive young lady or man etc)
qín kuàidiligent
zhí qínvariant of 執勤|执勤[zhi2 qin2]
yīn qínpolitely
quē qínto be absent from work or school
qín qín kěn kěnindustrious and conscientious
qín wù bīngarmy orderly
kǎo qínto check attendance (at school or workplace)
qín miǎndiligence
64
Total compounds
45
As first character
33
As last character
22
As middle character

appears in 64 compound words: 45 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 22 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.

jiǎn
0.74826,301 co-occurrences
kuān
0.58522,962 co-occurrences
fèn
0.5364,781 co-occurrences
duān
0.51823,490 co-occurrences
huáng
0.48023,472 co-occurrences
miǎn
0.4782,916 co-occurrences
jǐng
0.47723,232 co-occurrences
tōng
0.47055,680 co-occurrences
0.47023,448 co-occurrences
kěn
0.467732 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

jiāngqínbǔzhuōHSK 7+

to make up for one's lack of natural talent with hard work

phrase
kèqínkèjiǎnHSK 7+

hardworking and thrifty

phrase
qíngōngjiǎnxuéHSK 7+

part-work and part-study; to support oneself through hard part-time work while studying

phrase
qínjiǎnjiànguóHSK 7+

to build up a country through diligence and thrift

phrase
tiāndàochóuqínHSK 7+

God rewards those who work hard; God helps those who help themselves

phrase

Showing 5 of 6 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

劳是中华民族的传统美德。

Qínláo shì Zhōnghuá mínzú de chuántǒng měidé.

Diligence is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation.

中国军网Feb 2026

风光发电不再“罢工”,偏远执哨接通长明电

fēng guāng fā diàn bù zài bà gōng , piān yuǎn zhí qín shào jiē tōng cháng míng diàn

Wind and solar power generation is no longer "on strike", and remote duty posts are connected to Changming electricity

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

每日星座运势/牡羊必须劳的耕耘 竞争获得财富

měi rì xīng zuò yùn shì mǔ yáng bì xū qín láo de gēng yún jìng zhēng huò dé cái fù

Daily Horoscope/Aries must work diligently to compete for wealth

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

南北大道闪避不及撞值交警 摩哆骑士伤重不治

nán běi dà dào shǎn bì bù jí zhuàng zhí qín jiāo jǐng mó duō qí shì shāng chóng bù zhì

The north-south avenue dodged and collided with the traffic police on duty Modo Knight was seriously injured and died

English News - RthkFeb 2026

...普住所海湖庄园警戒线男子被击毙 白宫指特局果断行动

. . . pǔ zhù suǒ hǎi hú zhuāng yuán jǐng jiè xiàn nán zǐ bèi jī bì bái gōng zhǐ tè qín jú guǒ duàn háng dòng

... A man was shot dead on the cordon of Mar-a-Lago Manor in Puzhu The White House accused the Secret Service of decisive action

百度新闻Feb 2026

武警官兵坚守执岗位 守护万家灯火

wǔ jǐng guān bīng jiān shǒu zhí qín gāng wèi shǒu hù mò jiā dēng huǒ

Armed police officers and soldiers stick to their duty posts to guard the lights of all homes.

Tatoeba

汤姆其实并不懒,相反他很奋。

Tāngmǔ qíshí bìngbù lǎn, xiāngfǎn tā hěn qínfèn.

Tom isn't a lazy boy. As a matter of fact, he works hard.

Tatoeba

外行谈策略,内行谈后

Wàiháng tán cèlüè, nèiháng tán hòuqín.

Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.

Tatoeba

我们经常听说日本人工作奋。

Wǒmen jīngcháng tīngshuō Rìběnrén gōngzuò qínfèn.

It is often said that the Japanese are hard workers.

Tatoeba

我希望他来信更些。

Wǒ xīwàng tā láixìn gèng qín xiē.

I wish he would write more often.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qín

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 勤 (qín) mean in Chinese?
勤 (qín) primarily means "diligent." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1555 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 勤 and 艰?
勤 (qín) and 艰 (jiān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 力 vs 艮 (same 堇 component).
How many strokes does 勤 have?
勤 is written with 13 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 勤?
The radical associated with 勤 is 力 (power). This radical appears in many characters related to power.
What are the components of 勤?
勤 is composed of: 堇 (phonetic), 力 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰堇力 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 勤?
Common words with 勤 include: 外勤 (wài qín, "work done in the field (rather than in the office or at the headquarters)"); 辛勤 (xīn qín, "hardworking"); 勤奋 (qín fèn, "hardworking"); 执勤 (zhí qín, "to be on duty (of a security guard etc)"); 后勤 (hòu qín, "logistics"). There are over 64 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 勤 (qín)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qín: 亲 (parent), 侵 (to invade), 钦 (to respect), 秦 (Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) of the first emperor 秦始皇), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 勤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 勤 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.