HSK 3 vocabulary list

• 瓶子píng zibottle
• 其实qí shíactually; in fact; really
• 其他qí tāother; (sth or sb) else; the rest
• 奇怪qí guàistrange; odd; to marvel; to be baffled
• 骑jì(Tw) saddle horse; mounted soldier
• 起飞qǐ fēi(of an aircraft) to take off
• 起来qǐ laito stand up; to get up; also pr. [qǐ lái]
• 清楚qīng chuclear; distinct; to understand thoroughly; to be clear about
• 请假qǐng jiàto request leave of absence
• 秋qiūsurname Qiu
• 裙子qún ziskirt
• 然后rán hòuthen; after that; afterwards
• 热情rè qíngcordial; enthusiastic; passion; passionate; passionately
• 认为rèn wéito believe; to think; to consider; to feel
• 认真rèn zhēnconscientious; earnest; serious; to take seriously; to take to heart
• 容易róng yìeasy; straightforward; likely; liable to; apt to
• 如果rú guǒif; in case; in the event that
• 伞sǎnumbrella; parasol
• 上网shàng wǎngto go online; to connect to the Internet; (of a document etc) to be uploaded to the Internet; (tennis, volleyball etc) to move in close to the net
• 生气shēng qìto get angry; to take offense; angry; vitality; liveliness
• 声音shēng yīnvoice; sound
• 世界shì jièworld
• 试shìto test; to try; experiment; examination; test
• 瘦shòuthin; to lose weight; (of clothing) tight; (of meat) lean; (of land) unproductive
• 叔叔shū shufather's younger brother; uncle; Taiwan pr. [shú shu]
• 舒服shū fucomfortable; feeling well
• 树shùtree; to cultivate; to set up
• 数学shù xuémathematics
• 刷牙shuā yáto brush one's teeth
• 双shuāngsurname Shuang
• 水平shuǐ pínglevel (of achievement etc); standard; horizontal
• 司机sī jīchauffeur; driver
• 太阳tài yangsun; abbr. for 太阳穴
• 特别tè biéunusual; special; very; especially; particularly; expressly; for a specific purpose; (often followed by 是) in particular
• 疼téng(it) hurts; sore; to love dearly
• 提高tí gāoto raise; to increase; to improve
• 体育tǐ yùsports; physical education
• 甜tiánsweet
• 条tiáostrip; item; article; clause (of law or treaty); classifier for long thin things (ribbon, river, road, trousers etc)
• 同事tóng shìcolleague; co-worker
• 同意tóng yìto agree; to consent; to approve
• 头发tóu fahair (on the head)
• 突然tū ránsudden; abrupt; unexpected
• 图书馆tú shū guǎnlibrary
• 腿tuǐleg
• 完成wán chéngto complete; to accomplish
• 碗wǎnvariant of 碗
• 万mòused in 俟
• 忘记wàng jìto forget
• 为wéias (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice)
• 为了wèi lefor; for the purpose of; in order to
• 位wèiposition; location; place; seat; classifier for people (honorific); classifier for binary bits (e.g. 十六位 16-bit or 2 bytes); (physics) potential
• 文化wén huàculture; civilization; cultural
• 西xīthe West; abbr. for Spain 牙; Spanish
• 习惯xí guànhabit; custom; usual practice; to be used to
• 洗手间xǐ shǒu jiāntoilet; lavatory; washroom
• 只是zhǐ shìmerely; only; just; nothing but; simply; but; however
• 洗澡xǐ zǎoto bathe; to take a shower
• 夏xiàthe Xia or Hsia dynasty c. 2000 BC; Xia of the Sixteen Kingdoms (407–432); surname Xia
• 先xiānearly; prior; former; in advance; first

Frequently asked questions

How many words do you need for HSK 3?

On the current exam (HSK 2.0), HSK 3 requires 600 words in total, counted from HSK 1. Under the new HSK 3.0 standard, level 3 covers 2,245 words in total.

What is in this HSK 3 vocabulary list?

606 Chinese words that the HSK Ace dictionary places at HSK 3, sorted by frequency. Each one has pinyin, an English meaning, audio and a stroke-order animation. The set draws on both HSK 2.0 and HSK 3.0, so its size differs from the official counts.

Practice HSK 3

See how many of these words you can use under exam conditions, or learn to write them stroke by stroke.