请 (qǐng): please, to invite

请 (qǐng) is a Chinese character meaning “please, to invite.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 青 (phonetic). It ranks #421 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 请 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. please, to invite

Etymology & Origin

请

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠青 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 请

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
邀请verbyāo qǐngto invite4
申请verbshēn qǐngto apply for sth4
请求verb/nounqǐng qiúto request5
请问verbqǐng wènExcuse me, may I ask...?1
请客verbqǐng kèto give a dinner party3
请假verbqǐng jiàto request leave of absence3
聘请verbpìn qǐngto engage5
请教verbqǐng jiàoto ask for guidance5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
请便interjectionqǐng biànPlease do as you wish!
有请verbyǒu qǐngto request the pleasure of seeing sb
请勿adverbqǐng wùplease don't
邀请函nounyāo qǐng háninvitation letter
申请表nounshēn qǐng biǎoapplication form
请柬nounqǐng jiǎninvitation card
敬请verbjìng qǐngplease (do sth) (deferential form)
请愿书nounqǐng yuàn shūpetition
请帖nounqǐng tiěinvitation card
申请书nounshēn qǐng shūapplication
恳请verbkěn qǐngto request earnestly
提请verbtí qǐngto propose
请示verbqǐng shìto ask for instructions
申请人nounshēn qǐng rénapplicant
请愿verbqǐng yuànto petition
67
Total compounds
51
As first character
37
As last character
12
As middle character

请 appears in 67 compound words: 51 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 12 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 请 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

申shēn
0.64031,995 co-occurrences
邀yāo
0.63233,062 co-occurrences
求qiú
0.60334,798 co-occurrences
聘pìn
0.5706,676 co-occurrences
愿yuàn
0.5264,994 co-occurrences
恳kěn
0.508568 co-occurrences
阅yuè
0.5054,944 co-occurrences
奏zòu
0.4354,166 co-occurrences
宴yàn
0.4261,240 co-occurrences
讼sòng
0.421602 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

不情之请bùqíngzhīqǐngHSK 4+

my presumptuous request; if I may be so bold to ask a favor

noun
不请自来bùqǐngzìláiHSK 2+

to turn up without being invited

phrase
负荆请罪fùjīngqǐngzuìHSK 7+

to offer someone a humble apology, requesting punishment and forgiveness

phrase
另请高明lìngqǐnggāomíngHSK 4+

to find someone better qualified (than myself)

phrase
请多关照qǐng duō guānzhàoHSK 3+

please treat me kindly (a conventional phrase on first meeting)

phrase
请勿打扰qǐng wù dǎrǎoHSK 7+

do not disturb

phrase
三催四请sāncuīsìqǐngHSK 5+

to repeatedly urge or plead

phrase

Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing 请.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请大家在会议开始前把手机调成静音模式。

Qǐng dàjiā zài huìyì kāishǐ qián bǎ shǒujī tiáo chéng jìngyīn móshì.

Please turn your phones to silent mode before the meeting starts.

99 健康网Feb 2026

日本m码欧洲m码怎么选合适?这份选码攻略请收好

rì běn m mǎ ōu zhōu m mǎ zěn má xuǎn gě shì ? zhè fèn xuǎn mǎ gōng lüè qǐng shōu hǎo

How to choose the right Japanese M size and European M size? Please keep this code selection guide

EttodayFeb 2026

乌俄战争4周年前夕 泽伦斯基喊话川普:请站我们这一边

wū é zhàn zhēng 4 zhōu nián qián xī zé lún sī jī hǎn huà chuān pǔ : qǐng zhàn wǒ men zhè yī biān

On the eve of the 4th anniversary of the Ukrainian-Russian War, Zelensky shouted to Trump: Please stand on our side

WorldjournalFeb 2026

社安金多拿了怎么办?有机会申请保留

shè ān jīn duō ná le zěn má bàn ? yǒu jī huì shēn qǐng bǎo liú

What should I do if I get more social security funds? There is an opportunity to apply for reservation

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

涉行贿800万换取贷款申请 反贪会捕前电讯公司董事

shè háng huì 8 0 0 wàn huàn qǔ dài kuǎn shēn qǐng fǎn tān huì bǔ qián diàn xùn gōng sī dǒng shì

Involved in bribery of 8 million yuan in exchange for loan applications The Anti-Corruption Commission arrested former telecommunications company directors

百度新闻Feb 2026

请停留3秒 为这5位空军勇士献花!今天是万...

qǐng tíng liú miǎo wéi zhè wèi kōng jūn yǒng shì xiàn huā ! jīn tiān shì mò . . .

Please stay for 3 seconds to lay flowers for these 5 Air Force warriors! Today is the day when Wan...

Tatoeba

能不能请你把盐递给我?

Néng bù néng qǐng nǐ bǎ yán dì gěi wǒ?

Could you pass me the salt, please?

Tatoeba

请你给我看一下这条裙子好吗?

Qǐng nǐ gěi wǒ kàn yīxià zhè tiáo qúnzi hǎo ma?

Can you show me this skirt please?

Tatoeba

请问你在哪里工作?

Qǐngwèn nǐ zài nǎlǐ gōngzuò?

Where do you work?

Tatoeba

不好意思,我想请问去车站怎么走?

Bù hǎoyìsi, wǒ xiǎng qǐngwèn qù chēzhàn zěnme zǒu?

I'm sorry to trouble you, but could you tell me the way to the station?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 讠 (speech) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced qǐng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 请 (qǐng) mean in Chinese?
请 (qǐng) primarily means "please, to invite." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #421 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 请 and 精?
请 (qǐng) and 精 (jīng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 讠 vs 米 (same 青 component).
How many strokes does 请 have?
请 is written with 10 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 请?
The radical associated with 请 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 请?
请 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 青 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠青 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 请?
Common words with 请 include: 邀请 (yāo qǐng, "to invite"); 申请 (shēn qǐng, "to apply for sth"); 请求 (qǐng qiú, "to request"); 请问 (qǐng wèn, "Excuse me, may I ask...?"); 请便 (qǐng biàn, "Please do as you wish!"). There are over 67 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 请 (qǐng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qǐng: 情 (feeling, emotion), 清 (clear, pure), 晴 (sunny), 轻 (light), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 请 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 请 and the traditional form is 請.

Practice writing 请 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.