跑 is a Chinese character with HSK 2 on the new exam.
Etymology
Oracle-bone origin
跑 does not appear in oracle bones or bronzes; it is a relatively late phono-semantic compound. The left side 足 is the foot radical, marking the word as something done with the feet, and the right side 包 supplies the phonetic value (Old Chinese and Middle Chinese readings of 包 were close to the reading of 跑). The character was coined to write a colloquial word meaning to paw the ground or to run.
Form evolution
Because 跑 is a late coinage, its earliest clear attestations are in clerical and kaishu script rather than oracle or bronze. Dictionaries from the Han and later list it with the same 足 + 包 structure used today. No major graphic simplification occurred; the modern form is essentially the form used in woodblock-printed dictionaries of the imperial period.
How the meaning evolved
An older meaning of 跑, still found in some dictionaries, is 'for an animal to paw or scrape the ground with its hoof', which is why the phonetic 包 (wrap, enclose) sits next to 足 (foot). From 'pawing' the sense generalised to rapid foot movement, and by late imperial times 跑 had taken over the 'run' meaning that Classical Chinese assigned to 走. In modern Mandarin it covers running, fleeing, and figurative 'running around' (跑业务).
Cultural note
The animal-pawing sense survives in 虎跑泉 (Tiger-Pawed Spring) in Hangzhou, named from a legend that a tiger scraped the earth and revealed a spring. Learners who only know 跑 as 'run' are often surprised to find this older meaning preserved in place names and classical texts.
Basic info
| New HSK exam | Recognise at HSK 2 |
| Frequency | #1048 most common |
Example sentences
Words containing 跑
On the new HSK 2 exam
Studying for HSK 2? Keep 跑 with the rest of your level.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Reviewed by RJ Murray, Founder, HSK Lord.