(xùn): (bound form) to ask, to inquire, (bound form) to interrogate, to question, (bound form) news, information

(xùn) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) to ask.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1232 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) to ask
  2. to inquire
  3. (bound form) to interrogate
  4. to question
  5. (bound form) news
  6. information

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠卂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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
nountōng xùncommunications6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shěn xùninquest
xùn xīinformation
xùn hàosignal
chuán xùn(law) to summon (a witness)
xùn wènto interrogate
sǐ xùnnews of sb's death
wèn xùninterrogation
zī xùninformation
yīn xùnletters
xíng xùninterrogation under torture
tōng xùn lùaddress book
diàn xùntelecommunications
jiǎn xùnnewsletter
tōng xùn yuáncorrespondent
xǐ xùngood news
61
Total compounds
8
As first character
51
As last character
41
As middle character

appears in 61 compound words: 8 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 41 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.

téng
0.73122,320 co-occurrences
shěn
0.55110,740 co-occurrences
tōng
0.54258,470 co-occurrences
wén
0.5239,288 co-occurrences
0.48718,234 co-occurrences
pín
0.4695,628 co-occurrences
0.4601,800 co-occurrences
líng
0.459744 co-occurrences
diàn
0.4099,660 co-occurrences
wǎng
0.4085,184 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

tōngxùn wèixīngHSK 6+

communications satellite

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

传身教是最好的教育方式。

xùn chuán shēn jiào shì zuì hǎo de jiào yù fāng shì .

Leading by example is the best form of education.

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

/国3龙井段惊险车祸!宾士男猛撞缓撞车 ...

kuài xùn guó 3 lóng jǐng duàn jīng xiǎn chē huò ! bīn shì nán měng zhuàng huǎn zhuàng chē . . .

News/National 3 Longjing section thrilling car accident! Mercedes-Benz man slammed into a slow crash ...

EttodayFeb 2026

/马来西亚沙巴凌晨发生7.1强震

kuài xùn mǎ lái xī yà shā bā líng chén fā shēng 7 . 1 qiáng zhèn

News/A 7.1 earthquake struck Sabah, Malaysia in the early morning

EttodayFeb 2026

/闯入川普海湖庄园遭击毙 21岁嫌身分曝...

kuài xùn chuǎng rù chuān pǔ hǎi hú zhuāng yuán zāo jī bì 2 1 suì xián shēn fēn pù . . .

News/Breaking into Trump's Mar-a-Lago was killed and the identity of the 21-year-old suspect was exposed...

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

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

AI带旺需求...陆光通厂畅旺 订单排到Q4

A I dài wàng xū qiú . . . lù guāng tōng xùn hǎn chàng wàng dìng dān pái dào Q 4

AI drives demand... Luguang Communication Factory is prosperous, and orders are scheduled to Q4

Tatoeba

法兰克用暗号留下了一则息。

Fǎlánkè yòng ànhào liúxià le yīzé xùnxī.

Frank left a message by means of a secret code.

Tatoeba

我要更多详细的息。

Wǒ yào gèng duō xiángxì de xùnxī.

I want more detailed information.

Tatoeba

这则息将在五秒后自动销毁。

Zhè zé xùnxí jiāng zài wǔ miǎo hòu zìdòng xiāohuǐ.

This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

Tatoeba

你可以在年鉴中找到月相的资

Nǐ kěyǐ zài niánjiàn zhōng zhǎodào yuèxiàng de zīxùn.

In an almanac you can find information about the phases of the moon.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xùn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 讯 (xùn) mean in Chinese?
讯 (xùn) primarily means "(bound form) to ask." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1232 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 讯 and 答?
讯 (xùn) and 答 (dā) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 讯 (ask) vs 答 (answer).
How many strokes does 讯 have?
讯 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 讯?
The radical associated with 讯 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 讯?
讯 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 卂 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠卂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 讯?
Common words with 讯 include: 审讯 (shěn xùn, "inquest"); 通讯 (tōng xùn, "communications"); 讯息 (xùn xī, "information"); 讯号 (xùn hào, "signal"); 传讯 (chuán xùn, "(law) to summon (a witness)"). There are over 61 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 讯 (xùn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xùn: 汛 (high water), 勋 ((bound form) meritorious accomplishment), 熏 (to smoke), 寻 (to search), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 讯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 讯 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.