HSK 6 · Verbs

考察 kǎochá “to investigate” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 考察 means

  1. to investigate
  2. to inspect
  3. to study on site
  4. to observe and study
  5. on-the-spot investigation

How to say 考察

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale考kǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale察chá2nd tone, rising

考察 in a sentence

  1. 我发现实地考察很有教育意义。

    Wǒ fāxiàn shídì kǎochá hěn yǒu jiàoyù yìyì.

    I found the field trip very educational.

    Sentence #805576 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 考察 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 考 (kǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
考kǎoto beat
  • 耂old form of 老 · lǎoMeaning part
  • 丂part of the characterSound part

Memory aid考 and 老 share the top 耂 and once both meant “old”. Today 考 means to test.

The character 察 (chá) with each of its parts in a different colour
察cháto examine
  • 宀roof · miánMeaning part
  • 祭to sacrifice to · jìSound part

宀 hints at the meaning (roof); 祭 (jì) hints at the sound. Compare it with chá.

How to write 考察

考 6 strokes · 察 14 strokes

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

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

Words related to 考察

Words with 考

考kǎo · to take an exam考试kǎoshì · exam考虑kǎolǜ · to think over参考cānkǎo · to consult思考sīkǎo · to reflect on考古kǎogǔ · archaeology考核kǎohé · to assess考验kǎoyàn · to test

Words with 察

警察jǐngchá · police观察guānchá · to observe

More words: Common Verbs

开辟kāipì · to open up开拓kāituò · to open up开展kāizhǎn · to launch扛káng · to carry on one’s shoulder靠拢kàolǒng · to draw close磕kē · to knock (against)啃kěn · to gnaw扣kòu · to button

FAQs

考察 (kǎochá) means “to investigate” or “to inspect”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kǎochá: kǎo with a 3rd tone, then chá with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 考察 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kaocha with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 考察 from the suggestions. Typing kaocha into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
考察 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.