HSK 1 · Measure Words

块 kuài “yuan (currency)” in Chinese

Traditional 塊

What 块 means

  1. yuan (currency), piece
  2. lump
  3. chunk
  4. classifier for pieces of cloth, cake, soap etc
  5. (coll.) classifier for money and currency units

How to say 块

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale块kuài4th tone, falling

块 in a sentence

  1. 这个几块？

    Zhè ge jǐ kuài?

    How much is this?

    Sentence #10052320 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们的抓饭是四块钱。

    Wǒmen de zhuāfàn shì sì kuài qián.

    Our pilaf is four yuan.

    Sentence #428001 from Tatoeba

  3. 块 also counts pieces (三块蛋糕, three pieces of cake)

    我吃了三块蛋糕。

    Wǒ chī le sān kuài dàngāo.

    I ate three pieces of cake.

    Sentence #841833 from Tatoeba

How 块 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 块 (kuài) with each of its parts in a different colour
块kuàilump; chunk; piece
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part
  • 夬decisive · guàiSound part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 夬 (guài) hints at the sound. Compare it with kuài.

How to write 块

块 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 块

Words with 块

一块儿yíkuàir · together

More words: Measure Words & Counters

本běn · measure word for books个gè · general measure word些xiē · some岁suì · year(s) of age一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little

FAQs

块 (kuài) means “yuan (currency), piece” or “lump”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it kuài: kuài with a 4th 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, 块 is written 塊. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kuai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 块 from the suggestions. Typing kuai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
块 is an HSK 1 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.