(qīng): light

(qīng) is a Chinese character meaning “light.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic). It ranks #460 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, cart. Its radical form (cart) appears in many related characters such as (chē, vehicle), (liàng, measure word for vehicles), (zhuǎn, to turn, to transfer).

Native pronunciation
HSK 3Radical: cart9 strokesFrequency #460 semantic

Definitions

  1. light

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticcart

Decomposition: ⿰车⿱又工 (layout: left-right)

Components:semantic

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
adjectivenián qīngyoung3
adjectiveqīng sōnglight4
adjective/adverbqīng yìeasy5
verbjiǎn qīngto lighten4
nounqīng zhòngseverity (of the case)5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
nián qīng rényoung people
qīng qīnglightly
qīng wēislight
qīng ér yì jǔeasy
qīng jǔ wàng dòngto act blindly without thinking (idiom)
qīng shuàicavalier
qīng róusoft
qīng shìcontempt
qīng qiǎodexterous
qīng shēngin a quiet voice
qīng xìnto easily trust
qīng mièscornful
qīng dùmild (symptoms etc)
qīng fúfrivolous
qīng yínggraceful
100
Total compounds
79
As first character
8
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 79 as the first character, 8 as the last, and 13 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
0.57319,812 co-occurrences
guǐ
0.4819,528 co-occurrences
wēi
0.47614,713 co-occurrences
miè
0.4751,356 co-occurrences
sōng
0.47016,039 co-occurrences
shāng
0.4598,196 co-occurrences
0.4475,184 co-occurrences
fǎng
0.4371,422 co-occurrences
jiào
0.4207,536 co-occurrences
qiāng
0.4153,762 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (26)

bù zhī qīng zhòngHSK 3+

lit. not knowing what's important (idiom); no appreciation of the gravity of things; naive; doesn't know who's who

phrase
diàoyǐqīngxīnHSK 4+

to lower one's guard; to relax one's vigilance; to treat something lightly

phrase
jǔzúqīngzhòngHSK 4+

to play a decisive role

phrase
niánqīnglìzhuàngHSK 6+

to be young and strong

phrase
nián qīng qì shèngHSK 6+

full of youthful vigor (idiom); in the prime of youth

phrase
nián qīng yǒu wéiHSK 3+

young and promising

phrase
qīng chē jiǎn cóngHSK 3+

(of an official) to travel with little luggage and just a small escort; to travel without ostentation

phrase
qīngchēshúlùHSK 4+

to perform a task with which one is very familiar with great ease

phrase
qīng'éryìjǔHSK 4+

easy; without much effort

phrase
qīngjǔ-wàngdòngHSK 7+

to act rashly and blindly

phrase
qīng kǒu bó shéHSK 6+

(idiom) hasty and rude; caustic and sharp-tongued

phrase
qīng làng fú bóHSK 6+

(idiom) frivolous

phrase

Showing 12 of 26 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个箱子很,我一个人就能搬动。

Zhè gè xiāngzi hěn qīng, wǒ yí gè rén jiù néng bāndòng.

This box is very light; I can move it by myself.

百度新闻Feb 2026

当年人成为过年“主理人”,让团圆找到新载体

dāng nián qīng rén chéng wéi guò nián zhǔ lǐ rén , ràng tuán yuán zhǎo dào xīn zài tǐ

When young people become the "managers" of the New Year, let the reunion find a new carrier

百度新闻Feb 2026

这届年人的消费,要花在“心窝”里

zhè jiè nián qīng rén de xiāo fèi , yāo huā zài xīn wō lǐ

This generation of young people will spend in their hearts.

百度新闻Feb 2026

千问“一句话下单”受年人追捧,00后占比超40%..

qiān wèn yī gōu huà xià shàn shòu nián qīng rén zhuī pěng , hòu zhàn bǐ chāo . .

Qianwen's "One-Sentence Ordering" Gains Popularity Among Young People, with Gen Z Users Making Up Over 40%...

百度新闻Feb 2026

南京江宁春节再传佳讯!全球首款量化肝脏脂肪定量检..

nán jīng jiāng nìng chūn jié zài chuán jiā xùn ! quán qiú shǒu kuǎn qīng liáng huā gān zāng zhī fáng dìng liáng jiǎn . .

Nanjing Jiangning Delivers More Good News During Spring Festival! World's First Lightweight Liver Fat Quantification Device...

百度新闻Feb 2026

型战斗机,五星好评?

qīng xíng zhàn dǒu jī , wǔ xīng hǎo píng ?

Lightweight fighter jet, five-star rating?

Tatoeba

一点还是重一点?

Qīng yīdiǎn háishi zhòng yīdiǎn?

Is it a bit lighter or a bit heavier?

Tatoeba

这儿要换地铁和轨方便吗?

Zhèr yào huàn dìtiě hé qīngguǐ fāngbiàn ma?

Is it convenient to transfer between the subway and the light rail here?

Tatoeba

你对于现在的年人有什么看法?

Nǐ duìyú xiànzài de niánqīngrén yǒu shénme kànfǎ?

What do you think about young people today?

Tatoeba

法国年人也谈政治吗?

Fǎguó niánqīngrén yě tán zhèngzhì ma?

Do young French people talk about politics too?

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 轻 (qīng) mean in Chinese?
轻 (qīng) primarily means "light." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #460 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 轻 and 潦?
轻 (qīng) and 潦 (lǎo) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 轻 (light) vs 潦 (heavy).
How many strokes does 轻 have?
轻 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 轻?
The radical associated with 轻 is 车 (cart). This radical appears in many characters related to cart.
What are the components of 轻?
轻 is composed of: 车 (semantic), undefined (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰车⿱又工 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 轻?
Common words with 轻 include: 年轻 (nián qīng, "young"); 轻松 (qīng sōng, "light"); 年轻人 (nián qīng rén, "young people"); 轻易 (qīng yì, "easy"); 轻轻 (qīng qīng, "lightly"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
Is 轻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 轻 and the traditional form is 輕.

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.