Meaning of 事故
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- accident
Measure word: 樁|桩,起,次
How to use 事故
事故 is a formal-sounding noun for accidents like traffic crashes, workplace incidents, or equipment failures, and it often pairs with words like 交通 (jiāotōng) or 发生 (fāshēng). Example: 路上发生了一起交通事故。 (Lùshang fāshēng le yì qǐ jiāotōng shìgù.) There was a traffic accident on the road.
事 (shì) means a matter or event, and 故 (gù) can mean a cause or something that happened. Put them together and you get an event with a bad cause behind it: an accident.
Common mistake: Learners often flip the order and write 故事 (gùshi), which means story, so 事故 and 故事 use the same two characters with very different meanings. Also note the tones: 事故 is shìgù with two fourth tones, while 故事 ends in a neutral tone, gùshi.
事故 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
事 shì · matter · 8 strokes
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故 gù · happening · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 事故.
| 没事儿 | méishìr | to have spare time; free from work |
| 事情 | shìqing | affair; matter; thing; business |
| 故事 | gùshi | old practice |
| 好事 | hǎoshì | good action, deed, thing or work (also sarcastic, "a fine thing indeed"); charity |
| 同事 | tóngshì | colleague; co-worker |
| 故意 | gùyì | deliberately; on purpose |
| 事实 | shìshí | fact |
| 事实上 | shìshíshang | in fact; in reality |
| 事件 | shìjiàn | incident; event |
| 事业 | shìyè | undertaking; project |
| 本事 | běnshi | source material; original story |
| 从事 | cóngshì | to go for; to engage in |
Questions about 事故
What does 事故 mean?
事故 (shìgù) means "accident" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 事故?
事故 is made of 2 characters: 事 (8 strokes), 故 (9 strokes). That is 17 strokes in total.
Is 事故 an HSK word?
Yes. 事故 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What measure word is used with 事故?
The most common measure word is 起 (qǐ), as in 一起事故 (yì qǐ shìgù), one accident. You will also hear 次 (cì) in everyday speech.
Is 事故 the same as 意外 (yìwài)?
They overlap, but 事故 usually means a concrete incident like a crash or industrial accident, often in news or official language. 意外 is broader and means something unexpected, and it can also be an adjective meaning surprising.