Dictionary › 棵

棵

kē

Old HSK 4 HSK 3.0 character level 4 Character

棵 (kē) means "classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc". It is an HSK 3.0 level 4 word, and was HSK 4 in the old six-level list.

What 棵 means

1. classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc

Example sentences

• 那是棵小树。
  Nàshi kē xiǎoshù.
  That's a small tree.
• 这棵树很高。
  This tree is tall.
• 她画了一棵树。
  She drew a tree.
• 这是一棵橡树。
  It's an oak tree.
• 谁种了这棵树？
  Who planted this tree?
• 这是一棵桦树。
  This is a birch tree.

Words containing 棵

• 发棵fā kēbudding
• 塌棵菜tā kē càiBrassica narinosa (broadbeaked mustard); Chinese flat cabbage
• 不要在一棵树上吊死bù yào zài yī kē shù shàng diào sǐdon't insist on only taking one road to Rome (idiom)…

Characters built on 果

These share the phonetic component 果 (guǒ), which is why their readings rhyme. Learning them as a family is far cheaper than learning them one at a time.

• 课kèsubject; course; class
• 颗kēclassifier for small spheres, pearls, corn grains, teeth, hearts, satellites etc
• 窠kēnest
• 稞kē(wheat)
• 髁kēcondyles
• 锞kègrease-pot for cart; ingot
• 骒kè(bound form) (of a horse, mule, camel etc) female

Characters that look like 棵

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 裸luǒnaked
• 楠nánMachilus nanmu; Chinese cedar; Chinese giant redwood
• 楔xiēwedge; to hammer in (variant of 揳
• 榉jǔZeikowa acuminata
• 裱biǎoto hang (paper); to mount (painting)
• 楝liànMelia japonica

Sounds the same

Read kē, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 科branch of study; administrative section; division
• 颗classifier for small spheres, pearls, corn grains, teeth, hearts, satellites etc
• 磕to tap; to knock (against sth hard); (esp.) to knock…
• 柯(literary) branch; stem; stalk; (literary) ax handle
• 珂jade-like stone
• 苛severe; exacting
• 窠nest
• 瞌used in 瞌睡
• 钶columbium
• 坷used in 坷垃
• 蝌used in 蝌蚪
• 稞(wheat)

Where 棵 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Containers & classifiers (HSK 4), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 4 word, with the rest of its level.
• How characters are built from components.
• How to learn Chinese characters.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read kē correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.