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

chá to examine, to investigate, to observe 14 strokes · Radical (roof) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)
👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 察 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 chá.

Stroke Order & Practice

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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
察 — 14 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图(数字为下笔顺序)。

Decomposition

breaks down into 2 components arranged as Top + Bottom. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

=
top roof
bottom to sacrifice to

Radical

The radical of is — meaning roof. 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: .

How the character is built

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

HSK 4 Words Containing 察

jǐngchá police officer
警察帮我找到了丢失的包。
Jǐngchá bāng wǒ zhǎodào le diūshī de bāo.
The police helped me find my lost bag.

Tasks Featuring 察 / 相关任务

Words containing appear in these official HSK 4 task scenarios — study the character in context:

📚 介绍职业经历与单位情况
Career & Company · 警察

FAQ

What does 察 mean in Chinese?

察 (chá) means to examine, to investigate, to observe. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 察 have?

察 is written in 14 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 察?

The radical of 察 is 宀 (roof). Other HSK 4 characters with the same radical include 寄, 富, 寒, 密.

What is the pinyin for 察?

察 is pronounced chá.

What HSK 4 words use 察?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 察 appears in 1 word, including 警察 (jǐngchá). See the full list above.

All Characters chéng →