刻 — quarter
quarter (hour)
How to pronounce it
刻 is read kè. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
On the right, 刂 “knife”: carving, making notches.
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “刻”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 刻. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 现在八点一刻。xiànzàibādiǎnyíkèIt's a quarter past eight now.
- 我们两点一刻见wǒmenliǎngdiǎnyíkèjiànLet's meet at a quarter past two.
- 听到这个消息，他立刻给妈妈打了电话。tīngdàozhègexiāoxi,tālìkègěimāmadǎlediànhuàWhen he heard the news, he called his mom right away.
- 闹钟一响我就立刻起床了nàozhōngyìxiǎng,wǒjiùlìkèqǐchuángleAs soon as the alarm went off, I got up.
- 经理让我们立刻回公司jīnglǐràngwǒmenlìkèhuígōngsīThe manager told us to come back to the office right away.
- 这次实习给我留下了深刻的印象。zhècìshíxígěiwǒliúxiàleshēnkèdeyìnxiàngThis internship made a deep impression on me.
More characters by topic — happiness, luck, strength, nature — on the page “Chinese characters with meanings”.
More words from the lesson “How long?”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
What does 刻 mean?
刻 (kè) means “quarter (hour)”.
How do you write 刻?
刻 is 1 character. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 刻?
刻 is read kè. Tones: kè — fourth tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“quarter” in the lesson “How long?”
This word is from the topic “Seasons and time” of HSK 3. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
Start for free