却 (què) — HSK 4 Recognition Character: Meaning, Radical & Stroke Order

què still, but; decline; retreat 7 strokes · Radical 卩 (seal) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)
👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 却 when reading — handwriting it is not required (that applies to the 150 writing characters). The stroke animation below is optional but helps memory.

Pronunciation & meaning

Pronounced què.

Stroke Order & Practice

Click Animate to see the correct stroke order, then Practice to trace it yourself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
却 — 7 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图(数字为下笔顺序)。

Decomposition

却 breaks down into 2 components arranged as Left + Right. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

却 =
去 left to go away
卩 right seal

Radical

The radical of 却 is 卩 — meaning seal. Radicals are the indexing components used in Chinese dictionaries; they often hint at a character's broad meaning category.

Other HSK 4 characters that share this radical: 印即.

How the character is built

却 is a phono-semantic compound. The semantic component 卩 (seal) carries the meaning, while the phonetic component 去 originally indicated the sound.

HSK 4 Words Containing 却

却 què but; yet; however
他很聪明,成绩却不好。
Tā hěn cōngming, chéngjì què bù hǎo.
He is smart, yet his grades are not good.

Seen in the Real Exams / 真题例句

却 appears in 32 questions across the 19 mock & official HSK 4 exams on this site. Real exam sentences using it:

女人生完小孩以后,一般都会变胖,然而我姐却没变。
From Mock Exam 12 →
很多自行车后面都有一个灯,虽然小,但用处却很大。
From Mock Exam 17 →
我认为,广告会介绍一样东西的优点,却不会说它的缺点。
From Mock Exam 11 →

FAQ

What does 却 mean in Chinese?

却 (què) means still, but; decline; retreat. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 却 have?

却 is written in 7 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 却?

The radical of 却 is 卩 (seal). Other HSK 4 characters with the same radical include 印, 即.

What is the pinyin for 却?

却 is pronounced què.

What HSK 4 words use 却?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 却 appears in 1 word, including 却 (què). See the full list above.

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