柯 meaning and stroke order
Axe-handle, bough, stalk; surname
How to write 柯, stroke by stroke
9 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
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Meaning of 柯
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (literary) branch; stem; stalk
- (literary) ax handle
How 柯 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Wood.
木 gives the meaning and 可 hints at the sound.
Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.
How to remember 柯
柯 is 木 (mù, wood) on the left with 可 (kě) on the right giving the sound. Picture a piece of wood that can (可) be fitted to an axe: a wooden axe handle or a branch.
Today 柯 appears mostly as a surname and in a few fixed words like 古柯 (gǔkē, coca). Its meanings of branch or axe handle survive mainly in literary and classical texts. Example: 柯老师是我的中文老师。(Kē lǎoshī shì wǒ de Zhōngwén lǎoshī.) Teacher Ke is my Chinese teacher.
Common mistake: Learners often read 柯 as kě because of the phonetic 可, but 柯 is first tone kē. Also keep it apart from 河 (hé, river), which has the water radical 氵 instead of 木.
Common words with 柯
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 古柯 | gǔkē | (botany) coca (source of cocaine) |
柯 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 柯
How many strokes are in 柯?
柯 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 柯 mean?
柯 (kē) means axe-handle, bough, stalk; surname. A common word with it is 古柯 (gǔkē), meaning "(botany) coca (source of cocaine)".
How do you pronounce 柯?
柯 is pronounced kē, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 柯?
The radical of 柯 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 柯 under this radical.
Is 柯 a common Chinese surname?
Yes, 柯 (Kē) is a real surname that is fairly common in Taiwan and southern Fujian. It is sometimes romanized as Ko or Kuo.
Why does 柯 show up in foreign names?
Because of its kē sound, 柯 is used to transliterate foreign syllables like 'co' or 'ko'. A well known example is 柯南 (Kēnán), the name used for Conan in Chinese.