HSK 3 · Common Objects

刻 kè “quarter hour” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 刻 means

  1. quarter hour
  2. carve
  3. to cut
  4. moment
  5. to engrave
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • oppressive

How to say 刻

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale刻kè4th tone, falling

刻 in a sentence

  1. 现在是八点一刻。

    Xiànzài shì bā diǎn yí kè.

    It’s a quarter past eight.

    Sentence #410466 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 男孩把他的名字刻在树上。

    Nánhái bǎ tā de míngzi kè zài shù shàng.

    The boy carved his name on the tree.

    Sentence #3487188 from Tatoeba

  3. 刻 can also mean “moment”, as in 一刻

    他到了最后的一刻才取消了约会。

    Tā dào le zuìhòu de yí kè cái qǔxiāo le yuēhuì.

    He didn’t cancel the appointment until the last moment.

    Sentence #735396 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 刻 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 刻 (kè) with each of its parts in a different colour
刻kèquarter
  • 亥part of the characterSound part
  • 刂knife form of 刀 · dāoMeaning part

How to write 刻

刻 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 刻

Words with 刻

立刻lìkè · immediately时刻shíkè · time刻苦kèkǔ · hardworking深刻shēnkè · profound片刻piànkè · a moment雕刻diāokè · to carve刻不容缓kèbùrónghuǎn · extremely urgent

More words: Everyday Things

关系guānxi · relation机会jīhuì · opportunity角jiǎo · horn节日jiérì · holiday空调kōngtiáo · air conditioning筷子kuàizi · chopsticks礼物lǐwù · gift米mǐ · rice

FAQs

刻 (kè) means “quarter hour” or “carve”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it kè: kè with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 刻 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ke with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 刻 from the suggestions. Typing ke into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
刻 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.