HSK 4 vocabulary list

• 梦mèngdream; (bound form) to dream
• 之后zhī hòuafter; behind; (at the beginning of a sentence) afterwards; since then
• 迷路mí lùto lose the way; lost; labyrinth
• 密码mì mǎcipher; secret code; password; PIN
• 免费miǎn fèifree (of charge)
• 秒miǎosecond (unit of time); arc second (angular measurement unit); (coll.) instantly
• 民族mín zúnationality; ethnic group
• 母亲mǔ qīnmother; also pr. [mǔ qin]
• 目的mù dìpurpose; aim; goal; target; objective
• 耐心nài xīnto be patient; patience
• 难道nán dàodon't tell me ...; could it be that...?
• 难受nán shòuto feel unwell; to suffer pain; to be difficult to bear
• 内nèiinside; inner; internal; within; interior
• 内容nèi róngcontent; substance; details
• 能力néng lìcapability; ability
• 年龄nián líng(a person's) age
• 弄lònglane; alley
• 暖和nuǎn huowarm; nice and warm
• 偶尔ǒu ěroccasionally; once in a while; sometimes
• 排队pái duìto line up
• 排列pái lièto arrange in order; (math.) permutation
• 判断pàn duànto judge; to determine; judgment
• 陪péito accompany; to keep sb company; to assist; old variant of 赔
• 批评pī píngto criticize; criticism
• 皮肤pí fūskin
• 脾气pí qicharacter; temperament; disposition; bad temper
• 篇piānsheet; piece of writing; bound set of bamboo slips used for record keeping (old); classifier for written items: chapter, article
• 骗piànto cheat; to swindle; to deceive; to get on (a horse etc) by swinging one leg over
• 乒乓球pīng pāng qiútable tennis; ping-pong; table tennis ball
• 平时píng shíordinarily; in normal times; in peacetime
• 破pòbroken; damaged; worn out; lousy; rotten; to break, split or cleave; to get rid of; to destroy; to break with; to defeat; to capture (a city etc); to expose the truth of
• 葡萄pú taogrape
• 普遍pǔ biànuniversal; general; widespread; common
• 普通话pǔ tōng huàMandarin (common language); Putonghua (common speech of the Chinese language); ordinary speech
• 其次qí cìnext; secondly
• 其中qí zhōngamong; in; included among these
• 气候qì hòu(meteorology) climate; (fig.) climate; prevailing conditions (in human affairs)
• 千万qiān wànten million; countless; many; one must by all means
• 签证qiān zhèngvisa; to issue a visa
• 敲qiāoto hit; to strike; to tap; to rap; to knock; to rip sb off; to overcharge
• 桥qiáobridge
• 巧克力qiǎo kè lìchocolate (loanword)
• 亲戚qīn qia relative (i.e. family relation); CL:門|门[men2],個|个[ge4],位[wei4]
• 轻qīnglight; easy; gentle; soft; reckless; unimportant; frivolous; small in number; unstressed; neutral; to disparage
• 轻松qīng sōnglight; gentle; relaxed; effortless; uncomplicated; to relax; to take things less seriously
• 情况qíng kuàngcircumstances; state of affairs; situation
• 穷qióngpoor; destitute; to use up; to exhaust; thoroughly; extremely; (coll.) persistently and pointlessly
• 区别qū biédifference; to distinguish; to discriminate; to make a distinction
• 取qǔto take; to get; to choose; to fetch
• 全部quán bùwhole; all
• 缺点quē diǎnweak point; fault; shortcoming; disadvantage
• 缺少quē shǎolack; shortage of; shortfall; to be short (of); to lack
• 却quèold variant of 却
• 确实què shíindeed; really; reliable; real; true
• 然而rán érhowever; yet; but
• 热闹rè naobustling with noise and excitement; lively
• 任何rèn héany; whatever; whichever; whatsoever
• 任务rèn wumission; assignment; task; duty; role
• 扔rēngto throw; to throw away
• 仍然réng ránstill; as before; yet

Frequently asked questions

How many words do you need for HSK 4?

On the current exam (HSK 2.0), HSK 4 requires 1,200 words in total, counted from HSK 1. Under the new HSK 3.0 standard, level 4 covers 3,245 words in total.

What is in this HSK 4 vocabulary list?

935 Chinese words that the HSK Ace dictionary places at HSK 4, 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 4

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