册 meaning and stroke order
Book; booklet; classifier for books
How to write 册, stroke by stroke
5 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Meaning of 册
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- book
- booklet
- classifier for books
How 册 is built
Pictographic character. Bamboo strips 冂 tied together to form a book.
Radical: 冂 (wide), shared by 13 characters on this site.
How to remember 册
册 is a picture of an old book: the vertical lines inside the two 冂 shapes are bamboo strips, and the horizontal stroke 一 is the cord tying them together. Picture a bundle of bamboo slips bound into one volume.
册 (cè) appears mostly in compound words like 注册 (zhùcè, to register), 手册 (shǒucè, handbook) and 相册 (xiàngcè, photo album). It is also a classifier for books or volumes, a bit more formal than 本 (běn). Example: 这套书一共有三册。(Zhè tào shū yígòng yǒu sān cè.) This set of books has three volumes in total.
Common mistake: Learners often write the horizontal stroke too short, so it stays inside the shape. In 册 it should cross all the way through both 冂 parts and stick out on each side. Some also misread 册 as cì or cē, but the tone is always fourth, cè.
Common words with 册
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
册 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 册
Learning 册 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 册
How many strokes are in 册?
册 is written with 5 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 册 mean?
册 (cè) means book; booklet; classifier for books. A common word with it is 注册 (zhùcè), meaning "to register; to enroll".
How do you pronounce 册?
册 is pronounced cè, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 册?
The radical of 册 is 冂, which carries the idea of "wide". Dictionaries list 册 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 册?
The traditional form of 册 is 冊. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 册 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 册 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 册 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 3.
What is the difference between 册 and 本 as classifiers?
本 (běn) is the everyday classifier for any book, as in 一本书 (yì běn shū). 册 (cè) is more formal and often counts volumes within a set, or appears in written and library contexts.
Why does 注册 mean to register?
册 can mean a register or list of names, as in 名册 (míngcè). 注 (zhù) means to note down, so 注册 is literally to write your name into the register, which is why it is used for signing up for accounts, schools and companies.