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.
国guócountry; nation; state
囗enclosure · wéi
玉jade · yù
Memory aidTreasure 玉 kept inside a country’s borders 囗.
家jiāhome
宀roof · miánMeaning part
豕pig · shǐSound part
宀 hints at the meaning (roof); 豕 (shǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with jiā.
Memory aidA pig 豕 under a roof 宀: a home, a family.
How to write 国家
国 8 strokes · 家 10 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 国家 (guójiā). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
国家 (guójiā) means “country” or “state”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it guójiā: guó with a 2nd tone, then jiā 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, 国家 is written 國家. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guojia with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 国家 from the suggestions. Typing guojia into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
国家 is an HSK 3 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.
国guó2nd tone, rising
家jiā1st tone, high and level
