(): to take, to get, to choose

() is a Chinese character meaning “to take.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #323 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a hand 又 taking the ear 耳 of a fallen enemy. Its radical form (again) appears in many related characters such as (yǒu, friend), (yòu, (once) again), (, to send out).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to take
  2. to get
  3. to choose

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA hand 又 taking the ear 耳 of a fallen enemy

Decomposition: ⿰耳又 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
verbqǔ xiāoto cancel4
verbzhēng qǔto fight for5
verbqǔ déto acquire4
verbcǎi qǔto adopt or carry out (measures, policies, course of action)5
verbqǔ dàito replace6
verbtí qǔto withdraw (money)6
verbhuò qǔto gain4
verblù qǔto accept an applicant (prospective student, employee etc) who passes an entrance exam5
verbxī qǔto absorb6
verbtīng qǔto hear (news)6
verbduó qǔto seize6
verbshōu qǔto receive6
verblǐng qǔto receive5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qǔ xiàoto tease
qǔ chūto take out
qǔ yuèto try to please
qǔ huíto retrieve
qǔ míngto name
huàn qǔto obtain (sth) in exchange
qǔ shèngto score a victory
qǔ xiàngorientation
qiè qǔto steal (usu. private information, intellectual property etc)
qǔ zhèngto collect evidence
qǔ nuǎnto warm oneself (by a fire, heater etc)
dú qǔ(of a computer etc) to read (data)
qǔ kuǎnto withdraw money from a bank
suǒ qǔto ask
qǔ yàngto take a sample
100
Total compounds
36
As first character
64
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 36 as the first character, 64 as the last, and 0 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.

xiāo
0.661369,314 co-occurrences
0.623734,628 co-occurrences
cǎi
0.552114,410 co-occurrences
dài
0.527411,330 co-occurrences
0.5189,612 co-occurrences
duó
0.51141,580 co-occurrences
0.50510,572 co-occurrences
zhuàn
0.4663,978 co-occurrences
cuò
0.44824,906 co-occurrences
zhēng
0.42942,228 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

duànzhāngqǔyìHSK 5+

to take something out of context

phrase
gèqǔsuǒxūHSK 4+

each takes what he or she needs

phrase
huázhòngqǔchǒngHSK 7+

to try to please the crowd with claptrap

phrase
jiùdìqǔcáiHSK 4+

to make use of local resources (including materials and people)

phrase
náng zhōng qǔ wùHSK 7+

as easy as reaching for it from a bag (idiom); in the bag; (as good as) in one's possession

phrase
shěshēngqǔyìHSK 5+

to die to achieve virtue; to die for a just cause

phrase
suí jī cún qǔHSK 4+

random access (memory)

phrase
tànnángqǔwùHSK 7+

within one's grasp; extremely easy; like taking candy from a baby

phrase
tóujīqǔqiǎoHSK 5+

to be opportunistic

phrase
wúlǐqǔnàoHSK 4+

to make a fuss out of nothing; to throw a tantrum without reason; to be deliberately provocative; vexatious

phrase
yījiè-bùqǔHSK 4+

does not take a single penny

phrase
yǐmàoqǔrénHSK 4+

to judge a book by its cover; to judge people by their appearance

phrase

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在日常生活中使用频率很高。

qǔ zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ hěn gāo .

Character selection is frequently used in daily life.

NewtalkFeb 2026

中AI三巨头遭爆盗数据! Anthropic控用2.4万假...

zhōng A I sān jù tóu zāo bào dào qǔ shǔ jù ! A n t h r o p i c kòng yòng 2 . 4 wàn jiǎ . . .

The Big Three of China AI were exposed to steal data! Anthropic controls 24,000 fake...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

受冬季风暴影响 美国数千架次航班被

shòu dōng jì fēng bào yǐng xiǎng měi guó shǔ qiān jià cì háng bān bèi qǔ xiāo

Thousands of flights in the United States were canceled due to the winter storm

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

涉行贿800万换贷款申请 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

It之家Feb 2026

...针对全球 95% 人口感染的 EB 病毒得关键突破,为移植患者带来新希望

. . . zhēn duì quán qiú 9 5 rén kǒu gǎn rǎn de E B bìng dú qǔ dé guān jiàn tū pò , wéi yí zhí huàn zhě dài lái xīn xī wàng

... A key breakthrough in Epstein-Barr virus, which infects 95% of the world's population, brings new hope to transplant patients

三立新聞網Feb 2026

上海开唱遭消抹黑 滨崎步晒维尼帽反击

shàng hǎi kāi chàng zāo qǔ xiāo mā hēi bīn qí bù shài wéi ní mào fǎn jī

Shanghai's singing was canceled and smeared, and Hamasaki hit back with a vinnie hat

Tatoeba

我能在机场领机票吗?

Wǒ néng zài jīchǎng lǐngqǔ jīpiào ma?

Can I pick my ticket up at the airport?

Tatoeba

你能消我的预订吗?

Nǐ néng qǔxiāo wǒ de yùdìng ma?

Could you cancel my reservation?

Tatoeba

这样辉煌的成绩,是如何得的?

Zhèyàng huīhuáng de chéngjì, shì rúhé qǔdé de?

How can one achieve such brilliant results?

Tatoeba

你认为电子书会代纸质书吗?

Nǐ rènwéi diànzǐshū huì qǔdài zhǐzhìshū ma?

Do you think that e-books will replace paper books?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 取 (qǔ) mean in Chinese?
取 (qǔ) primarily means "to take." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #323 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 取 have?
取 is written with 8 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 取?
The radical associated with 取 is 又 (again). This radical appears in many characters related to again.
What are the components of 取?
取 is composed of: 耳 (structural), 又 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰耳又 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 取?
Common words with 取 include: 取消 (qǔ xiāo, "to cancel"); 争取 (zhēng qǔ, "to fight for"); 取得 (qǔ dé, "to acquire"); 采取 (cǎi qǔ, "to adopt or carry out (measures, policies, course of action)"); 取笑 (qǔ xiào, "to tease"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 取 (qǔ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qǔ: 曲 (bent), 驱 (to drive), 屈 (bent), 躯 (human body), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 取 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 取 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.