(qún): group, crowd, flock, herd, pack etc

(qún) is a Chinese character meaning “group.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #570 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, sheep. Its radical form (sheep) appears in many related characters such as (yáng, sheep), (měi, (bound form) the Americas (abbr. for 美洲)), (xiū, shy).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. group
  2. crowd
  3. flock, herd, pack etc

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticsheep

Decomposition: ⿰君羊 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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
nounrén qúncrowd5
qún zhòngmass6
nounqún tǐcommunity5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qún dǎogroup of islands
hé qúnto fit in
chéng qúnin groups
kāi màn qún dǎoCayman Islands
qún shānmountains
zú qúnethnic group
yáng qúnflock of sheep
chāo qúnsurpassing
hè lì jī qúna crane in a flock of chicken (idiom)
hài qún zhī mǎlit. a horse that brings trouble to its herd (idiom)
zhǒng qúnpopulation (of a species)
chéng qún jié duì(idiom) making up a group
qún jūto live together (in a large group or flock)
fēng qúnbee colony
qún luòcommunity
100
Total compounds
30
As first character
49
As last character
21
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 30 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 21 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.

dǎo
0.56477,094 co-occurrences
zhòng
0.56270,848 co-occurrences
0.518115,852 co-occurrences
shè
0.46295,232 co-occurrences
0.45069,564 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.42817,004 co-occurrences
zhù
0.42028,884 co-occurrences
0.41516,848 co-occurrences
chén
0.40718,750 co-occurrences
láng
0.3946,192 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

ào shì qún lúnHSK 7+

outstanding talent (idiom); incomparable artistic merit; accomplishment out of the ordinary

phrase
chāo qún jué lúnHSK 7+

outstanding (idiom); incomparable

phrase
chéngqúnjiéduìHSK 5+

to gather in groups; to gather in crowds; to band together

phrase
hàiqúnzhīmǎHSK 5+

bad apple, black sheep

noun
hèlìjīqúnHSK 7+

an outstanding person in a group of common people

phrase
húqún-gǒudǎngHSK 7+

a pack of rogues; a gang of scoundrels

phrase
jìngyèlèqúnHSK 5+

to be committed to one's work or studies and enjoy socializing with friends to learn from one another

phrase
Kùkè QúndǎoHSK 6+

Cook Islands (an archipelago and self-governing country in Oceania, in free association with New Zealand)

Pénghú QúndǎoHSK 7+

Pescadores

Qiāndǎo QúndǎoHSK 6+

Kuril Islands

qúncèqúnlìHSK 6+

to pool the wisdom and efforts of everyone; to work with collective wisdom and concerted efforts

phrase
线qúnzhòng lùxiànHSK 5+

mass line

noun

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě qún zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "群" had different meanings in classical Chinese.

99 健康网Feb 2026

低糖食品有哪些?糖尿病患者和减肥人需求不同吗

dī táng shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? táng niào bìng huàn zhě hé jiǎn féi rén qún xū qiú bù tóng ma

What are the low-sugar foods? Do diabetics and weight loss people have different needs?

Swi SwissinfoFeb 2026

瑞士同性恋体担心仇视情绪反弹

ruì shì tóng xìng liàn qún tǐ dān xīn qiú shì qíng xù fǎn dàn

The Swiss gay community fears a backlash of hatred

WorldjournalFeb 2026

搭完邮轮有“离船症候”?30-60岁女性最常见

dā wán yóu lún yǒu lí chuán zhèng hòu qún ? 3 0 6 0 suì nǚ xìng zuì cháng jiàn

After a cruise, "disembarkation syndrome" is most common among women aged 30-60

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...盘奔向3万4?两大变数酿短压 关注五大族走势

. . . pán bēn xiàng 3 wàn 4 ? liǎng dà biàn shǔ niàng duǎn yā guān zhù wǔ dà zú qún zǒu shì

... The market is running towards 30,000 4? Two major variables cause short-term pressure and pay attention to the trend of the five major groups

BastillepostFeb 2026

脂肪肝不是胖人专利 三类高危族与改善关键

zhī fáng gān bù shì pàng rén zhuān lì sān lèi gāo wēi zú qún yǔ gǎi shàn guān jiàn

Fatty liver is not the patent of fat people, three types of high-risk groups and the key to improvement

Tatoeba

小偷迅速地窜入了人

Xiǎotōu xùnsù de cuàn rù le rénqún.

The thief whipped out into the crowd.

Tatoeba

我们被一大蜜蜂攻击。

Wǒmen bèi yī dà qún mìfēng gōngjī.

We were attacked by swarms of bees.

Tatoeba

众妨碍了警员执行任务。

Qúnzhòng fáng'ài le jǐng yuán zhíxíng rènwu.

The crowd obstructed the police in the discharge of their duties.

Tatoeba

这座城市被山环绕。

Zhè zuò chéngshì bèi qúnshān huánrào.

The mountains were all around the city.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the sheep radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced qún

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 群 (qún) mean in Chinese?
群 (qún) primarily means "group." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #570 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 群 and 窘?
群 (qún) and 窘 (jiǒng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 羊 vs 穴 (same 君 component).
How many strokes does 群 have?
群 is written with 13 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 群?
The radical associated with 群 is 羊 (sheep). This radical appears in many characters related to sheep.
What are the components of 群?
群 is composed of: 君 (phonetic), 羊 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰君羊 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 群?
Common words with 群 include: 人群 (rén qún, "crowd"); 群众 (qún zhòng, "mass"); 群体 (qún tǐ, "community"); 群岛 (qún dǎo, "group of islands"); 合群 (hé qún, "to fit in"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 群 (qún)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qún: 裙 (skirt). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 群 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 群 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.