What does 国 mean in Chinese?

国 is a Chinese character with the radical 囗.

How do you write 国?

国 is written with 8 strokes, starting from the 囗 (enclosure) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 国?

The radical of 国 is 囗 (enclosure, Kangxi radical #31). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 因, 回, 园, 四.

How many strokes does 国 have?

The Chinese character 国 has 8 strokes.

What HSK level is 国?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 国 is a character to recognise at HSK 1 and to write by hand at HSK 2 (the handwriting list HSK 1 and 2 share).

国: Chinese Character Details

国

HSK 1 character 8 strokes Radical: 囗 (enclosure)

Quick Answer

国 is a Chinese character with 8 strokes, radical 囗 (enclosure), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 国 →Animated stroke-order for 国 →

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

The traditional 國 derives from an oracle bone graph 或, showing a dagger-axe (戈) guarding a bounded area (囗 representing territory, with an extra stroke for a wall or moat). It depicted an armed settlement or fief. The simplified 国 replaces the inner 或 with 玉 (jade), giving the folk-reading of 'jade within walls'; a treasured domain.

Form evolution

In bronze script the outer 囗 enclosure was added around 或 to disambiguate it from the adverb 'or', producing 國. Seal and clerical forms kept this structure. The 国 variant with 玉 inside is attested from at least the Tang dynasty in popular writing and was formalised by the PRC simplification in 1956; Taiwan and Hong Kong retain 國.

How the meaning evolved

The earliest sense was a walled city-state or feudal domain. Through the Zhou and Han it shifted to mean the state or realm more broadly, then the country or nation in the modern sense. Compounds like 国家 (country), 中国 (China), and 外国 (foreign country) all rest on this expanded meaning.

Cultural note

The choice of 玉 inside 国 in the simplified form was deliberate symbolism, echoing the idiom 化干戈为玉帛 (turn weapons into jade and silk, meaning to make peace). Note that Japanese kanji uses 国 as well, adopted long before the PRC simplification.

Mnemonic

Jade treasure within borders — a country

Decomposition

国=囗radical+玉component

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Stroke count	8 strokes
Radical	囗 (#31: enclosure)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1, write by hand at HSK 1-2
Frequency	#270 most common

Example sentences

中国是一个大国。
Zhōngguó shì yí gè dà guó.
China is a large country.
From 中国 (HSK 1)
中国是个大国。
Zhōngguó shì gè dà guó.
China is a big country.
From 国家 (HSK 3)
他的国籍是中国。
Tā de guójí shì Zhōngguó.
His nationality is Chinese.
From 国籍 (HSK 4)

Words containing 国

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
中国	Zhōngguó	China	HSK 1
国家	guójiā	Country	HSK 3
国际	guójì	international	HSK 4
国籍	guójí	nationality	HSK 4
国庆节	guóqìngjié	National Day
国王	guówáng	king	HSK 6
帝国	dìguó	empire	HSK 7-9
法国	fǎguó	France