腔 meaning and stroke order
(bound form) cavity; (bound form) speech; talk; tune
How to write 腔, stroke by stroke
12 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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Meaning of 腔
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) cavity
- (bound form) speech; talk
- tune
- accent (in one's speech)
- (old) classifier for carcasses of slaughtered livestock
How 腔 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Flesh.
⺼ gives the meaning and 空 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺼ (meat), shared by 176 characters on this site.
How to remember 腔
腔 combines ⺼ (flesh, the body) with 空 (kōng, empty). An empty space inside the body is a cavity, and 空 also hints at the sound qiāng.
腔 mostly appears in compounds. It names body cavities, as in 口腔 (kǒuqiāng) and 胸腔 (xiōngqiāng), and it can also mean a tune or a way of speaking, as in 腔调 (qiāngdiào). Example: 他说话带着一股南方腔。(Tā shuōhuà dàizhe yì gǔ nánfāng qiāng.) He speaks with a southern accent.
Common mistake: Learners often read 腔 as kōng because of the 空 part, but it is qiāng in the first tone. Do not confuse it with 控 (kòng, control), which has the hand radical 扌 instead of ⺼.
Common words with 腔
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 口腔 | kǒuqiāng | oral cavity | HSK 7-9 |
| 娘娘腔 | niángniangqiāng | sissy; effeminate | |
| 胸腔 | xiōngqiāng | thoracic cavity | |
| 装腔作势 | zhuāngqiāngzuòshì | posturing; pretentious | |
| 腔调 | qiāngdiào | a tune; a melody |
腔 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 腔
How many strokes are in 腔?
腔 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 腔 mean?
腔 (qiāng) means (bound form) cavity; (bound form) speech; talk; tune. A common word with it is 口腔 (kǒuqiāng), meaning "oral cavity".
How do you pronounce 腔?
腔 is pronounced qiāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 腔?
The radical of 腔 is ⺼, which carries the idea of "meat". Dictionaries list 腔 under this radical.
Is 腔 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 腔 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does a character about body cavities also mean accent or tune?
The dictionary lists both cavity and speech, tune, or accent as senses of 腔. A simple way to link them is that the voice comes from cavities like the mouth and chest. Words like 腔调 (qiāngdiào) and 京腔 (jīngqiāng, Beijing accent) use the sound sense.
What does 装腔作势 mean and how is it used?
装腔作势 (zhuāngqiāngzuòshì) means to put on airs or act pretentiously, literally putting on a tone and striking a pose. It is critical, for example 别装腔作势了 (bié zhuāngqiāngzuòshì le), stop showing off.