走 (zǒu): to walk, to go, to run

走 (zǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “to walk.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (structural) and 止 (structural). It ranks #207 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 走 someone 土 stepping with their foot 止. Its radical form 走 (walk) appears in many related characters such as 起 (qǐ, to rise), 超 (chāo, to exceed), 越 (yuè, generic word for peoples or states of south China or south Asia at different historical periods).

Spoken pronunciation
HSK 2Radical: 走 walk7 strokesFrequency #207土 structural止 structural

Definitions

  1. to walk
  2. to go
  3. to run

Etymology & Origin

走

ideographicSomeone 土 stepping with their foot 止

Decomposition: ⿱土止 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:土structural止structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing 走 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 走

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
走廊nounzǒu lángcorridor6
走路verbzǒu lùto walk2
行走verbxíng zǒuto walk5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
带走verbdài zǒuto carry
拿走verbná zǒuto take away
走开verbzǒu kāito leave
走运zǒu yùnto have good luck
逃走verbtáo zǒuto escape
赶走verbgǎn zǒuto drive out
抢走verbqiǎng zǒuto snatch (esp related to a robbery)
搬走verbbān zǒuto carry
走向nounzǒu xiàngdirection
走过zǒu guòto walk past
出走verbchū zǒuto leave home
走私verbzǒu sīto smuggle
走人interjectionzǒu rén(coll.) to leave
走着瞧verbzǒu zhe qiáowait and see (who is right)
溜走verbliū zǒuto slip away
105
Total compounds
55
As first character
43
As last character
2
As middle character

走 appears in 105 compound words: 55 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 2 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 走 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

廊láng
0.56616,303 co-occurrences
向xiàng
0.52653,014 co-occurrences
逃táo
0.52215,238 co-occurrences
偷tōu
0.5117,034 co-occurrences
私sī
0.4619,274 co-occurrences
赶gǎn
0.4502,054 co-occurrences
抓zhuā
0.4433,176 co-occurrences
层céng
0.440137 co-occurrences
奔bēn
0.4265,026 co-occurrences
呈chéng
0.4235,170 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (24)

奔走相告bēnzǒuxiānggàoHSK 6+

to rush about spreading the news

phrase
笔走龙蛇bǐzǒulóngshéHSK 5+

lively and vigorous

phrase
不胫而走bùjìng'érzǒu

to get round fast; to spread like wildfire

phrase
东奔西走dōngbēnxīzǒuHSK 6+

to rush about busily; to busy oneself; to run about; to be on the move

phrase
贩夫走卒fànfūzǒuzúHSK 7+

population with low social status

phrase
飞禽走兽fēiqínzǒushòuHSK 7+

the birds and the beasts

phrase
飞檐走壁fēiyánzǒubìHSK 7+

to leap onto roofs and vault over walls

phrase
飞鹰走马fēi yīng zǒu mǎHSK 7+

to ride out hawking (idiom); to hunt

phrase
迷走神经mízǒu shénjīngHSK 5+

vagus nerve

noun
无路可走wú lù kě zǒuHSK 4+

nowhere to go; at the end of one's tether

phrase
行尸走肉xíngshīzǒuròuHSK 7+

walking corpse; walking dead; zombie; layabout; idler; person who lives only on the material level

phrase
远走高飞yuǎn zǒu gāo fēiHSK 2+

(idiom) to go far away; to flee to a distant place

phrase

Showing 12 of 24 idioms containing 走.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

父母给了我们生命，我们应该懂得感恩和回报。

Fùmǔ gěi le wǒmen shēngmìng, wǒmen yīnggāi dǒngde gǎnēn hé huíbào.

Our parents gave us life, and we should know how to be grateful and give back.

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走军营丨北部战区陆军某边防旅巡逻艇中队守望...

xīn chūn zǒu jūn yíng 丨 běi bù zhàn ōu lù jūn mǒu biān fáng lǚ xún luó tǐng zhōng duì shǒu wàng . . .

The new spring walk military camp丨North War Area Army a border guard brigade patrol boat squadron watch...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...春跨境消费实现“丝滑”扫码,解锁人民币“走出去”..

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

... Spring cross-border consumption to realize the "silky smooth" sweep code, unlocking the RMB "go out" ...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层丨95后潜水员与千年白鹤梁的水下之约

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hòu qián shuǐ yuán yú qiān nián bái hè liáng de shuǐ xià zhī yāo

New Year walk grassroots 丨 95 divers and the Millennium White Crane Liang underwater appointment

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层·驻外记者回乡手记丨在中国,感受火箭...

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng zhù wài jì zhě huí xiāng shǒu jì 丨 zài zhōng guó , gǎn shòu huǒ jiàn . . .

The new year is the first time that a foreign correspondent has returned to his hometown...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层丨护送万千乡愁 奔赴团圆之路

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hù sòng mò qiān xiāng chóu bēn fù tuán yuán zhī lù

New Year walk grassroots 丨 escort thousands of nostalgia to the reunion road

Tatoeba

你可以想象在月球上行走吗？

Nǐ kěyǐ xiǎngxiàng zài yuèqiú shàng xíngzǒu ma?

Can you imagine walking on the moon?

Tatoeba

走着去火车站要多久？

Zǒu zhe qù huǒchēzhàn yào duōjiǔ?

How long does it take to walk to the station?

Tatoeba

请问警察局怎么走？

Qǐngwèn jǐngchájú zěnme zǒu?

How can I get to the police station?

Tatoeba

真的吗？他是什么时候走的？

Zhēn de ma? tā shì shénme shíhou zǒu de?

Oh, really? When did he leave?

Character Family

走 Radical Family — Characters sharing the walk radical

起qǐ越yuè超chāo赶gǎn趣qù赵zhào趋qū赴fù趁chèn趟tàng

Related Characters

起qǐ超chāo越yuè赶gǎn趋qū趣qù趟tàng赴fù赵zhào趁chèn

Homophones — Characters pronounced zǒu

奏zòu揍zòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 走 (zǒu) mean in Chinese?
走 (zǒu) primarily means "to walk." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #207 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 走 and 来?
走 (zǒu) and 来 (lái) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 走 (go) vs 来 (come).
How many strokes does 走 have?
走 is written with 7 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 走?
The radical associated with 走 is 走 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 走?
走 is composed of: 土 (structural), 止 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱土止 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 走?
Common words with 走 include: 带走 (dài zǒu, "to carry"); 拿走 (ná zǒu, "to take away"); 走开 (zǒu kāi, "to leave"); 走运 (zǒu yùn, "to have good luck"); 逃走 (táo zǒu, "to escape"). There are over 105 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 走 (zǒu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zǒu: 奏 (to play music), 揍 (to hit). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 走 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 走 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 走 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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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.