HSK 4 · Function Words

棵 kē “measure word for trees and plants” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 棵 means

  1. measure word for trees and plants
  2. classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc

How to say 棵

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale棵kē1st tone, high and level

棵 in a sentence

  1. 院子里有三棵树。

    Yuànzi lǐ yǒu sān kē shù.

    There are three trees in the yard.

    Sentence #1216054 from Tatoeba

  2. 谁种了这棵树？

    Shéi zhòng le zhè kē shù?

    Who planted this tree?

    Sentence #8463583 from Tatoeba

  3. 她在一棵树下坐着。

    Tā zài yì kē shù xià zuò zhe.

    She was sitting under a tree.

    Sentence #332962 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 棵 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 棵 (kē) with each of its parts in a different colour
棵kēclassifier for trees, cabbages
  • 木tree · mùMeaning part
  • 果fruit · guǒSound part

木 hints at the meaning (tree); 果 (guǒ) hints at the sound. Compare it with kē.

How to write 棵

棵 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 棵

More words: Particles & Connectors

即使jíshǐ · even if既然jìrán · since尽管jǐnguǎn · despite竟然jìngrán · unexpectedly可是kěshì · but恐怕kǒngpà · I’m afraid (that)例如lìrú · for example俩liǎ · two (colloquial equivalent of 两个)

FAQs

棵 (kē) means “measure word for trees and plants” or “classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it kē: kē with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 棵 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 棵 from the suggestions. Typing ke into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
棵 is an HSK 4 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.