Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to walk; to go; to move

Chinese: 行走、离开。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “zou” becomes a different word in each tone. 走 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 走路zǒu lùto walk; to go on foot; to leave; to depart
  • 走过zǒu guòto walk past; to pass by
  • 走开zǒu kāito leave; to walk away; to beat it; to move aside
  • 走进zǒu jìnto enter; to step into
  • 行走xíng zǒuto walk

Example Sentence

我们走着去公园吧。Wǒ men zǒu zhe qù gōng yuán ba.Let us walk to the park.

我们Wǒ menwezǒuto walkzhe(ongoing action)to go公园gōng yuánpark (for public recreatiobato puff (on a pipe etc)

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

A person swinging their arms (the top) over a foot (止, the bottom): someone striding along. In modern Chinese it means ‘to walk’; in classical Chinese it meant ‘to run’.

A way to remember it

Arms swinging above a foot — off you go on foot.

Easy to confuse with

  • ‘Foot’: shares the 止 foot at the bottom, but the top is a single joint.