科 meaning and stroke order
Branch of study; administrative section; division
How to write 科, 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.
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- 9
Meaning of 科
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- branch of study
- administrative section
- division
- field
- branch
- stage directions
How 科 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A hand measuring 斗 grain 禾.
Radical: 禾 (cereal), shared by 66 characters on this site.
How to remember 科
On the left is grain 禾 (hé), and on the right is a measuring scoop 斗 (dǒu). Picture someone measuring grain and sorting it into grades, and you have the idea of dividing things into categories, like sections, departments, and fields of study.
科 (kē) rarely stands alone in everyday speech. It mostly appears in words for fields of knowledge or divisions of an organization, such as 科学 (kēxué, science), 学科 (xuékē, academic subject), and hospital departments like 内科 (nèikē) and 外科 (wàikē). Example: 他在医院外科工作。(Tā zài yīyuàn wàikē gōngzuò.) He works in the hospital's surgery department.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 科 with 料 (liào, material), which also has 斗 on the right but uses 米 (rice) on the left instead of 禾. Remember that 科 has the grain stalk 禾 with its slanted top stroke.
Common words with 科
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 科学 | kēxué | science; scientific knowledge | HSK 2 |
| 科学家 | kēxuéjiā | scientist | HSK 2 |
| 科技 | kējì | science and technology | HSK 3 |
| 本科 | běnkē | undergraduate course; undergraduate (attributive) | HSK 4 |
| 内科 | nèikē | internal medicine; general medicine | HSK 4 |
| 学科 | xuékē | subject; branch of learning | HSK 5 |
| 外科 | wàikē | surgery (branch of medicine) | HSK 6 |
| 高科技 | gāokējì | high tech; high technology | HSK 6 |
| 科研 | kēyán | (scientific) research | HSK 6 |
| 儿科 | érkē | pediatrics | HSK 6 |
| 科幻 | kēhuàn | science fiction; abbr. for 科學幻想|科学幻想[ke1 xue2 huan4 xiang3] | HSK 7-9 |
| 教科书 | jiàokēshū | textbook | HSK 7-9 |
| 科目 | kēmù | academic subject; field of study | HSK 7-9 |
| 科普 | kēpǔ | popularization of science (abbr. for 科學普及|科学普及[ke1 xue2 pu3 ji2]); (attributive) popular s | HSK 7-9 |
科 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 科
How many strokes are in 科?
科 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 科 mean?
科 (kē) means branch of study; administrative section; division. A common word with it is 科学 (kēxué), meaning "science; scientific knowledge".
How do you pronounce 科?
科 is pronounced kē, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 科?
The radical of 科 is 禾, which carries the idea of "cereal". Dictionaries list 科 under this radical.
Is 科 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 科 is part of the HSK 2 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 2.
What does 本科 mean when talking about university?
本科 (běnkē) means an undergraduate degree program, usually four years. You can say 我是本科生 (wǒ shì běnkē shēng), meaning I am an undergraduate student.
How do I say which hospital department I need with 科?
Add 科 to the area of medicine, for example 眼科 (yǎnkē, ophthalmology) or 牙科 (yákē, dentistry). At a hospital you might ask 内科在哪儿? (Nèikē zài nǎr?) Where is internal medicine?