HSK 6 · Function Words

除 chú “except” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 除 means

  1. except
  2. besides
  3. to remove
  4. to divide (maths)
  5. to get rid of
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to exclude
  • to eliminate
  • to wipe out
  • to divide

How to say 除

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale除chú2nd tone, rising

除 in a sentence

  1. 除了我以外，大家都很忙。

    Chúle wǒ yǐwài, dàjiā dōu hěn máng.

    Everyone is busy except me.

    Sentence #684827 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 除了水果，他什么都没吃。

    Chúle shuǐguǒ, tā shénme dōu méi chī.

    Apart from fruit, he didn’t eat anything.

    Sentence #1424412 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我需要工具来给花园除草。

    Wǒ xūyào gōngjù lái gěi huāyuán chú cǎo.

    I need a tool to weed the garden.

    Sentence #1895440 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 除 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 除 (chú) with each of its parts in a different colour
除chúto get rid of
  • 阝place
  • 余surplus · yú

How to write 除

除 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 除

Words with 除

除了chúle · besides除夕Chúxī · lunar New Year’s Eve删除shānchú · to delete除非chúfēi · only if (…解除jiěchú · to remove排除páichú · to rule out清除qīngchú · to clear away消除xiāochú · to eliminate开除kāichú · to expel废除fèichú · to abolish

More words: Function Words & Grammar

不惜bùxī · not to hesitate (to)不由得bùyóude · can’t help (doing)不止bùzhǐ · more than成心chéngxīn · on purpose大不了dàbuliǎo · at worst当面dāngmiàn · face to face大肆dàsì · wantonly大体dàtǐ · on the whole

FAQs

除 (chú) means “except” or “besides”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it chú: chú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 除 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 除 from the suggestions. Typing chu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
除 is an HSK 6 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.