去 (qù): to go, to go to (a place), (of a time etc) last

去 (qù) is a Chinese character meaning “to go.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (structural) and 厶 (structural). It ranks #64 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 1 Radical: 厶 private5 strokesFrequency #64土 structural 厶 structural

Definitions

to go
to go to (a place)
(of a time etc) last

Stroke Order

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Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 去

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
过去verb	guò qù	(in the) past	2
出去verb	chū qù	to go out	2
回去verb	huí qu	to return	2
下去verb	xià qù	to go down	2
进去verb	jìn qù	to go in	2
失去verb	shī qù	to lose	4
上去verb	shàng qù	to go up	2
去年noun	qù nián	last year	1
去世verb	qù shì	to pass away	5

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
看上去verb	kàn shang qu	it would appear
死去verb	sǐ qù	to die
离去verb	lí qù	to leave
去掉verb	qù diào	to get rid of
过不去verb	guò bu qù	to make life difficult for
除去verb	chú qù	to eliminate
逝去verb	shì qù	to elapse
去向noun	qù xiàng	direction in which sb or sth has gone
去除verb	qù chú	to remove
去处noun	qù chù	place
减去	jiǎn qù	minus
辞去verb	cí qù	to resign
来龙去脉phrase	lái lóng qù mài	(lit.) the rise and fall of the terrain (idiom)
过意不去	guò yì bù qù	to feel very apologetic
去留noun	qù liú	going or staying

101

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

去 appears in 101 compound words: 40 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 6 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 去 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

世shì

0.592169,136 co-occurrences

辞cí

0.50211,310 co-occurrences

失shī

0.48597,959 co-occurrences

享xiǎng

0.47513,694 co-occurrences

找zhǎo

0.42911,590 co-occurrences

抹mǒ

0.4261,966 co-occurrences

死sǐ

0.42527,002 co-occurrences

哪nǎ

0.4123,088 co-occurrences

除chú

0.40521,120 co-occurrences

掉diào

0.3974,796 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

不知去向bùzhīqùxiàngHSK 3+

to not know where someone or something went

phrase

颠来倒去diān lái dǎo qùHSK 7+

to harp on; over and over; merely ring changes on a few terms

phrase

翻来覆去fānláifùqùHSK 6+

toss and turn sleeplessly; repeat; again and again

phrase

放眼望去fàng yǎn wàng qùHSK 3+

as far as the eye can see

phrase

过意不去guò yì bù qùHSK 2+

to feel very apologetic

phrase

何去何从héqùhécóngHSK 4+

what course to follow or take; where to proceed from here

phrase

挥之不去huīzhībùqùHSK 5+

to linger and bother someone constantly, while being impossible to be got rid of

phrase

驾鹤西去jiàhèxīqùHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase

来龙去脉láilóngqùmàiHSK 7+

origin and development; the entire process; sequence of events; ins and outs

phrase

来踪去迹lái zōng qù jìHSK 6+

(lit.) the traces of a person's movements (idiom); (fig.) sb's history; the ins and out of a matter

phrase

眉来眼去méiláiyǎnqùHSK 6+

to make eyes at each other; to flirt with each other

phrase

人去楼空rén qù lóu kōngHSK 3+

(lit.) the occupants have gone and the place is now empty (idiom); (fig.) (of a dwelling) empty; deserted

phrase

Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing 去.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

去年夏天，我们全家一起去海边度假，度过了愉快的时光。

Qùnián xiàtiān, wǒmen quánjiā yīqǐ qù hǎibiān dùjià, dùguò le yúkuài de shíguāng.

Last summer, our whole family went to the seaside for vacation together and had a wonderful time.

東方日報Feb 2026

坦言集:大势已去

tǎn yán jí : dà shì yǐ qù

Frankly speaking, the general trend is gone

Vietnam+Feb 2026

...春节假期后首个工作日必须迅速投入到工作中去

. . . chūn jié jiǎ qī hòu shǒu gè gōng zuò rì bì xū xùn sù tóu rù dào gōng zuò zhōng qù

... The first working day after the Spring Festival holiday must be quickly put into work

東森新聞Feb 2026

WBC/重炮加入WBC “捞哥”去年24轰86分夺打点王

W B C chóng pào jiā rù W B C lāo gē qù nián 2 4 hōng 8 6 fēn duó dǎ diǎn wáng

WBC/Heavy Artillery joined the WBC "Lao Ge" last year with 24 hits and 86 points to win the RBI king

百度新闻Feb 2026

...暖流丨贵安新区市场监督管理局为外卖骑手送去..

. . . nuǎn liú 丨 guì ān xīn ōu shì chǎng jiān dū guǎn lǐ jú wéi wài mài qí shǒu sòng qù . .

... Warmth 丨 Gui'an New District Market Supervision Bureau for takeaway riders to send ...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...境消费实现“丝滑”扫码,解锁人民币“走出去”..

. . . jìng xiāo fèi shí xiàn sī huá sǎo mǎ , xiè suǒ rén mín bì zǒu chū qù . .

Seamless QR code scanning for cross-border consumption unlocks the path for the renminbi to go global.

Tatoeba

我们去滑雪怎么样？

Wǒmen qù huáxuě zěnmeyàng?

What do you say we go skiing?

Tatoeba

你会代替我去派对吗？

Nǐ huì dàitì wǒ qù pàiduì ma?

Will you go to the party instead of me?

Tatoeba

今晚出去吃怎么样？

Jīnwǎn chūqù chī zěnmeyàng?

How about going out to eat tonight?

Tatoeba

你是带着相机去吗？

Nǐ shì dài zhe xiàngjī qù ma?

Are you bringing your camera?

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 去 (qù) mean in Chinese?

去 (qù) primarily means "to go." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #64 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 去 and 来?

去 (qù) and 来 (lái) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 去 (go) vs 来 (come).

How many strokes does 去 have?

去 is written with 5 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 去?

The radical associated with 去 is 厶 (private). This radical appears in many characters related to private.

What are the components of 去?

去 is composed of: 土 (structural), 厶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱土厶 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 去?

Common words with 去 include: 过去 (guò qù, "(in the) past"); 出去 (chū qù, "to go out"); 回去 (huí qu, "to return"); 下去 (xià qù, "to go down"); 进去 (jìn qù, "to go in"). There are over 101 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 去 (qù)?

Several characters share the pronunciation qù: 取 (to take), 趣 (interesting), 曲 (bent), 驱 (to drive), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 去 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 去 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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去 (qù): to go, to go to (a place), (of a time etc) last

Definitions

Stroke Order

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 去

Common Compounds

Strongest Collocations

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

Example Sentences

Character Family

厶 Radical Family — Characters sharing the private radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced qù

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice writing 去 with real-time feedback