HSK 4 · Function Words

刚 gāng “just” in Chinese

Traditional 剛

What 刚 means

  1. just
  2. only just
  3. exactly
  4. precisely
  5. barely
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • only a short while ago

How to say 刚

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale刚gāng1st tone, high and level

刚 in a sentence

  1. 我们刚认识。

    Wǒmen gāng rènshi.

    We’ve only just met.

    Sentence #9489473 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 刚开始下雨。

    Gāng kāishǐ xiàyǔ.

    It’s just started raining.

    Sentence #9956367 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你刚到这里吗？

    Nǐ gāng dào zhèlǐ ma?

    Did you just get here?

    Sentence #2737450 from Tatoeba

How 刚 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 刚 (gāng) with each of its parts in a different colour
刚gānghard; firm; strong
  • 冈ridge or crest of hill · gāngSound part
  • 刂knife form of 刀 · dāoMeaning part

刂 hints at the meaning (knife); 冈 (gāng) hints at the sound. Compare it with gāng.

How to write 刚

刚 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

刚 (gāng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 刚 (gāng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 刚

Words with 刚

刚才gāngcái · just now刚刚gānggāng · just now

More words: Particles & Connectors

对于duìyú · regarding而ér · and份fèn · measure word for portions否则fǒuzé · otherwise各gè · each共同gòngtóng · common故意gùyì · deliberately光guāng · light

FAQs

刚 (gāng) means “just” or “only just”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it gāng: gāng with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 刚 is written 剛. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 刚 from the suggestions. Typing gang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
刚 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.