What does 请 mean in Chinese?

请 (qǐng) means "please" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 请?

请 is written with 10 strokes, starting from the 讠 (speech) 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 请?

The radical of 请 is 讠 (speech, Kangxi radical #149). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 话, 说, 认, 读.

How many strokes does 请 have?

The Chinese character 请 has 10 strokes.

What HSK level is 请?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 请 is a character to recognise at HSK 1.

请 (qǐng): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

请

qǐng

please

HSK 1 character 10 strokes Radical: 讠 (speech)

Quick Answer

请 (qǐng) means "please" with 10 strokes, radical 讠 (speech), HSK 1 on the new exam.

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

Pronunciation

qǐng

Meaning

Primary: please

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

请 is a phono-semantic compound not attested in oracle bone script. It pairs the 言 (speech) radical on the left, indicating the semantic field of verbal interaction, with 青 (qīng, 'azure/young') on the right as the phonetic component. The character first appears in small seal script as part of the regularised 言-based vocabulary of polite address.

Form evolution

Because 请 is a later formation, there is no oracle-bone or bronze form. In small seal script (篆书) the 言 component shows the mouth with tongue and sound-lines stacked vertically, and 青 sits as a tall, balanced element to the right. Clerical script (隶书) flattened 言 into the horizontal seven-stroke shape still used in traditional 請, and the simplified modern form 请 reduces 言 to the three-stroke 讠 on the left.

How the meaning evolved

The earliest classical sense was 'to ask' or 'to request' in a formal, deferential way, as in 請見 ('to request an audience'). From this it extended to 'to invite' (請客, inviting a guest) and to the polite imperative marker used in modern Mandarin, as in 请坐 ('please sit'). The politeness function grew out of the original meaning of asking with respect rather than from any separate source.

Cultural note

请客 ('to treat someone') still carries the old sense of formally inviting someone as a guest, and in Chinese dining etiquette the person who 请s pays the bill in full. Learners often over-use 请 in casual speech, where native speakers would drop it or use 麻烦你 instead.

Mnemonic

Green words of youth — please, to invite

Decomposition

请=讠radical+青component

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

Basic info

Pinyin	qǐng
Meanings	please
Stroke count	10 strokes
Radical	讠 (#149: speech)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1
Frequency	#484 most common

Example sentences

请坐。
Qǐng zuò.
Please sit down.
From 请 (HSK 1)
我明天想请假。
Wǒ míngtiān xiǎng qǐngjià.
I want to ask for leave tomorrow.
From 请假 (HSK 3)
我收到了邀请。
Wǒ shōudào le yāoqǐng.
I received an invitation.
From 邀请 (HSK 4)