氢 (qīng): hydrogen (chemistry)

氢 (qīng) is a Chinese character meaning “hydrogen (chemistry).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 气 (semantic), 又 (structural) and 工 (phonetic). It ranks #2817 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 氢 gas. Its radical form 气 (steam) appears in many related characters such as 气 (qì, gas), 氛 (fēn, miasma), 氧 (yǎng, oxygen (chemistry)).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hydrogen (chemistry)

Etymology & Origin

氢

pictophoneticgas

Decomposition: ⿹气⿱又工 (layout: surround-from-upper-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
氢氧化钠nounqīng yǎng huà nàsodium hydroxide NaOH
氢气nounqīng qìhydrogen (gas)
氢氟酸nounqīng fú suānhydrofluoric acid HF
氢弹nounqīng dànH-bomb
硫化氢nounliú huà qīnghydrogen sulfide H2S
过氧化氢nounguò yǎng huà qīnghydrogen peroxide H2O2
重氢nounzhòng qīngheavy hydrogen (isotope)
氯化氢nounlǜ huà qīnghydrogen chloride HCl
氢氧化物nounqīng yǎng huà wùa hydroxide
氟化氢nounfú huà qīnghydrofluoric acid
氢原子qīng yuán zǐhydrogen atom
氢能源qīng néng yuánhydrogen energy (energy derived from using hydrogen as a fuel)
氢氧根离子qīng yǎng gēn lí zǐhydroxide ion OH-
氢气球nounqīng qì qiúhydrogen balloon
超重氢nounchāo zhòng qīng(chemistry) tritium
43
Total compounds
58
As first character
21
As last character
21
As middle character

氢 appears in 43 compound words: 58 as the first character, 21 as the last, and 21 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

氢氧化物qīngyǎnghuàwù

hydroxide (compound)

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习氢字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí qīng zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

You need to practice writing the character for "hydrogen" repeatedly to make it look neat.

Investing 香港Mar 2026

...9亿元建设20万吨/年全酸性流化牀过氧化氢项目

. . . 9 yì yuán jiàn shè 2 0 wàn dūn nián quán suān xìng liú huà 牀 guò yǎng huà qīng xiàng mù

...900 million yuan to build a 200,000-ton-per-year fully acidic fluidized-bed hydrogen peroxide project

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

德阳工博会展“氢功”

dé yáng gōng bó huì zhǎn qīng gōng

Deyang Industrial Expo Showcases "Hydrogen Power"

DigitimesMar 2026

科技1分钟:低碳氢

kē jì 1 fēn zhōng : dī tàn qīng

Tech in a Minute: Low-Carbon Hydrogen

DigitimesMar 2026

...乔石化强化绿色布局 锁定半导体材料与低碳氢等高值市场

. . . qiáo shí huà qiáng huà lǜ sè bù jú suǒ dìng bàn dǎo tǐ cái liào yǔ dī tàn qīng děng gāo zhí shì chǎng

...Qiaoshi Chemical Strengthens Its Green Strategy, Targeting High-Value Markets Such as Semiconductor Materials and Low-Carbon Hydrogen

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

台肥:看好半导体制程化学品 暂停投入氢能市场

tái féi : kàn hǎo bàn dǎo tǐ zhì chéng huà xué pǐn zàn tíng tóu rù qīng néng shì chǎng

Taiwan Fertilizer: Bullish on Semiconductor Process Chemicals; Pausing Investment in the Hydrogen Energy Market

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 气 (gas) component

气 Radical Family — Characters sharing the steam radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced qīng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 氢 (qīng) mean in Chinese?
氢 (qīng) primarily means "hydrogen (chemistry)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2817 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 氢 and 经?
氢 (qīng) and 经 (jīng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 气 vs 纟 (same 工 component).
How many strokes does 氢 have?
氢 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 氢?
The radical associated with 氢 is 气 (steam). This radical appears in many characters related to steam.
What are the components of 氢?
氢 is composed of: 气 (semantic), 又 (structural), 工 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿹气⿱又工 with a surround-from-upper-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 氢?
Common words with 氢 include: 氢氧化钠 (qīng yǎng huà nà, "sodium hydroxide NaOH"); 氢气 (qīng qì, "hydrogen (gas)"); 氢氟酸 (qīng fú suān, "hydrofluoric acid HF"); 氢弹 (qīng dàn, "H-bomb"); 硫化氢 (liú huà qīng, "hydrogen sulfide H2S"). There are over 43 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 氢 (qīng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qīng: 轻 (light). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 氢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 氢 and the traditional form is 氫.

Practice writing 氢 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.