What is HSK 4?

If you’ve completed HSK 1, 2 and 3, the HSK 4 word list is the next milestone — and the biggest jump yet. Master this HSK 4 vocabulary list and you’ll hold extended conversations on a wide range of topics (work, travel, opinions, plans, feelings), follow native speech at near-natural speed on familiar subjects, and read longer Chinese text without a dictionary in hand.

HSK 4 is also the level where Mandarin becomes genuinely conversational rather than transactional. The vocabulary widens into emotions, abstract opinion, work, society and technology — the registers of real adult conversation. Passing HSK 4 is the standard entry requirement for many Mandarin-taught degree programmes at mainland Chinese universities.

This resource gives you all 598 HSK 4 words in three forms: a downloadable A4 PDF organised by category for offline study and printing, an interactive search-and-filter web grid (above) for quick lookup, and native Mandarin pronunciation audio for every single word powered by Microsoft Xiaoxiao neural TTS.

How to use this HSK 4 vocabulary list

Don’t try to memorise the entire HSK 4 vocabulary list at once. Studies of vocabulary acquisition consistently show that spaced repetition + audio + sentence context is what makes words stick — not flashcard cramming. Here’s how to actually learn HSK 4 vocabulary:

1. Print the PDF and stick it on your wall or fridge. Passive exposure adds up — you’ll glance at the categories during dead moments throughout the day.
2. Use the interactive grid above for daily drills. Filter by category, tap each word to hear native pronunciation, repeat aloud. 10 minutes per day beats 1 hour once a week.
3. Start with the high-yield HSK 4 categories: Verbs — Action & Daily Life, Verbs — Mental & Speaking, Adjectives & Descriptions, and Function Words. These four categories cover 376 of the 598 words — well over half the HSK 4 vocabulary list — and show up in every HSK 4 conversation.
4. Always learn words in clusters: 出差 / 出发 / 航班 / 签证 (the business-travel set) together; 父亲 / 母亲 / 亲戚 / 孙子 (the formal family terms) together — not in isolation. HSK 4 is full of natural clusters like these, and related words reinforce each other.
5. Build a sentence with each new word. Knowing “保证 (bǎozhèng, to guarantee)” in isolation is useless — knowing “我保证按时到 (wǒ bǎozhèng ànshí dào, I guarantee I’ll arrive on time)” is what gets you producing real HSK 4 sentences.
6. Drill the tone-pair traps early. 表达 (biǎodá, to express) and 表扬 (biǎoyáng, to praise) share 表 but split into very different meanings. Same with 感动 (gǎndòng, to move emotionally) and 感情 (gǎnqíng, feelings). Recognise these pairs by the second character.

If you’re targeting an actual HSK 4 exam date, drilling vocabulary alone won’t be enough — you’ll need listening practice, reading speed and exam pacing. That’s what our 1-on-1 HSK Preparation course is built for. For learners not chasing the exam, our Upper-Intermediate course covers the same vocabulary in conversational context.

The 18 categories in this HSK 4 vocabulary list

This HSK 4 vocabulary list organises the 598 words into 18 categories grouped by how they appear in real Mandarin use — relationships, time, places, food, body, mental and action verbs, descriptions, emotions, education, work, society, technology, travel, nature, objects and function words. Most categories are small enough to drill in one or two sessions; the four big ones are split into batches in the study plan below.

• Family & People — Romance, relatives, grandson, friendship, author. The formal kinship and relationship terms beyond HSK 1–3’s immediate family.
• Time & Calendar — “Originally”, “at that time”, “in the future”, “occasionally”, “gradually”. The time markers that sequence longer stories.
• Places & Locations — Embassy, petrol station, capital, the countryside, Asia, the Great Wall. The geography of life and travel in China.
• Food & Drink — Dumplings, biscuits, chocolate, bitter, sour, salty. Plus 干杯 — the toast you’ll hear at every dinner table.
• Body & Health — Belly, skin, strength, to cough, to sweat. The words for describing how your body actually feels.
• Clothing — Just one new word at this level: 袜子 (socks). HSK 1–3 already covered everyday clothing.
• Verbs — Mental & Speaking — Guarantee, express, praise, apologise, report, guess. The verbs of opinion, persuasion and feeling.
• Verbs — Action & Daily Life — Arrange, include, protect, sign up, hold, rub. At 160 words, the biggest category in the HSK 4 vocabulary list.
• Adjectives & Descriptions — Safe, mature, honest, careless, standard, rich. The descriptive range HSK 4 explodes into.
• Emotions & Feelings — Startled, proud, worried, moved, lonely, shy. The vocabulary of how you actually feel.
• Education & Knowledge — Graduation, professor, doctorate, dictionary, novel. The words of formal study.
• Work & Business — Wages, customer, tour guide, journalist, working overtime. Office and career vocabulary.
• Society & Culture — Law, society, nationality, art, Beijing opera. The words for talking about how China works.
• Technology & Media — Website, password, technology, advertisement, news. Digital-life vocabulary.
• Transport & Travel — Business trip, flight, visa, traffic, setting off. The travel-admin words every trip needs.
• Nature & Weather — The earth, ocean, forest, scenery, air, temperature. The natural world beyond HSK 3’s weather basics.
• Objects & Quantities — Notebook, form, materials, window, answer. Plus the measure words longer descriptions need.
• Function Words — 按时, 按照, 并且, 不但, 只好. The grammatical glue that holds longer HSK 4 sentences together.

Preparing for the HSK 4 exam?

These 598 words are the entire HSK 4 vocabulary — but the exam also tests listening, reading patterns and grammar. Our 1-on-1 HSK Preparation course drills exam-specific skills with mock papers and pacing technique.

Book a free HSK consultation →

A daily study routine

Here’s a 30-day plan to absorb the entire HSK 4 vocabulary list. Each day takes 25-30 minutes — longer than HSK 1–3 because the words are more abstract and need more sentence practice.

• Day 1: Family & People (9) + Body & Health (10) + Clothing (1). Describe your family and how you’re feeling today.
• Day 2: Time & Calendar (13) + Society & Culture (6). Anchor each time word to a real moment from your week.
• Day 3: Places & Locations (12) + Transport & Travel (5). Plan an imaginary trip through China — embassy, visa, flight.
• Day 4: Food & Drink (14) + Technology & Media (5). Order a meal, then describe the website you found it on.
• Day 5: Education & Knowledge (13) + Nature & Weather (12). Talk about what you’re studying — and the weather while you do it.
• Day 6: Work & Business (24 words). Describe your job, your customers and working overtime.
• Days 7-8: Emotions & Feelings (28 words, ~14/day). Each word gets a sentence about a real memory.
• Days 9-11: Verbs — Mental & Speaking (49 words, ~16/day). Hopes, opinions, apologies — used in sentences about you.
• Days 12-19: Verbs — Action & Daily Life (160 words, 20/day). The biggest category — drill each verb with a real object.
• Days 20-23: Adjectives & Descriptions (71 words, ~18/day). Pair each with a noun from earlier categories.
• Days 24-26: Objects & Quantities (70 words, ~23/day). Many measure words live here — drill with actual nouns.
• Days 27-29: Function Words (96 words, ~32/day). Learn these in grammar patterns, not isolation — 按照 + noun, 不但…而且 compound sentences.
• Day 30: Review the entire list. Filter “All” in the grid above. Tap each word — say it before the audio plays. Note any you still hesitate on.

By the end of the month you’ll have drilled every word in this HSK 4 vocabulary list with audio at least twice and be ready to start using HSK 4 grammar patterns in real conversation. The next big jump is HSK 5 — another 1,298 new words — but most learners benefit from 2-3 months of conversational practice at the HSK 4 level before adding more vocabulary.

FAQs

Sources: word list from the official HSK 2.0 syllabus via Chinese Testing International; English glosses adapted from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0).