走
Strokes7Radical走HSK2FrequencyVery common — among the 200 most frequent characters in modern Chinese.
走 means 'to walk, to go, to leave' in Mandarin, and is one of the first verbs a learner meets (走路 'to walk', 我们走吧 'let's go'). Originally it meant 'to run', a sense preserved in Cantonese, where 走 zau2 means 'to run/flee' and everyday 'walk' is 行 haang4. It is also a very common radical, appearing in 起, 赶, 超, 趟 and many other motion words.
Readings
Mandarinzǒu · ㄗㄡˇ
Cantonesezau2 · jáu
Single reading in both languages. In Mandarin, third tone 走 becomes a rising second tone before another third tone, e.g. 走远 stays 3+3-free but 走走 zǒuzou often reduces the second syllable to neutral tone.
Meanings
- verb to walk; to go on foot
- verb to leave; to depart (我先走了 'I'm off')
- verb to run (classical Chinese; still the everyday meaning in Cantonese)
- verb to move (of a machine, clock, or a piece in chess); to pass through, to travel by (a route)
- verb to leak, to let out; to depart from the original state (走味 'lose flavour', 走样 'lose shape')
- verb to visit, to call on (走亲戚 'visit relatives')
How it is built
compound ideograph
Radical 走. walk, run; motion on foot
- 夭 (now written 土)meaning Originally a bent-over person with arms swinging, as when running; the shape flattened into 土 in later script.
- 止meaning A footprint — the standard 'foot/step' element; written 龰 at the bottom of 走.
Origin
Oracle-bone and bronze forms show a running figure with arms flung out (夭) above a foot (止), together depicting a person running. The upper element was gradually simplified in clerical script until it looked like 土 'earth', which is why the modern character seems to show 'earth over foot' — that reading is a later accident of shape, not the original design. The meaning shifted in Mandarin from 'run' to 'walk' over the course of history; classical texts and Cantonese keep the older 'run' sense.
Remembering it
The bottom is a foot (止, squashed into 龰); the top is a person leaning forward mid-stride, which time has flattened into 土. A body above, a foot below: someone going somewhere.
Words using it
走路zǒulù · zau2 lou6to walk, to go on foot (Cantonese 走路 also = to flee) 走开zǒukāi · zau2 hoi1to go away, get lost 拿走názǒu · naa4 zau2to take away 带走dàizǒu · daai3 zau2to take/carry away with one 行走xíngzǒu · hang4 zau2to walk (formal/written) 逃走táozǒu · tou4 zau2to run away, escape 走廊zǒuláng · zau2 long4corridor, hallway 走红zǒuhóng · zau2 hung4to become popular, to be a hit 走私zǒusī · zau2 si1to smuggle 走神zǒushén · zau2 san4to lose concentration, zone out In a sentence
Wǒmen zǒu ba, yǐjīng hěn wǎn le.
Let's go, it's already late.
Cóng zhèlǐ zǒu dào xuéxiào yào shí fēnzhōng.
It takes ten minutes to walk from here to the school.
Tā zuótiān jiù zǒu le, méi gēn wǒ shuō.
He left yesterday without telling me.
Qǐng bǎ zhèxiē shū názǒu.
Please take these books away.
Zhège biǎo zǒu de bù zhǔn.
This watch doesn't keep good time.
Usage
The biggest trap for learners of both languages: in Mandarin 走 = 'walk/leave', but in Cantonese 走 zau2 normally means 'run away, flee' (走佬 zau2 lou2 'to abscond'), and ordinary walking is 行 haang4. Conversely Mandarin 行 xíng rarely means 'walk' in speech. In Mandarin, 走 as 'leave' is neutral and everyday (我先走了), while 离开 líkāi is more formal. 走 also works as a resultative ending on many verbs: 拿走, 带走, 搬走, 送走 — all meaning the object ends up gone.
Context
走 is the radical of a whole family of motion verbs (起, 赶, 超, 越, 趕, 趟), so recognising it pays off across the writing system. It appears in well-known idioms such as 走马看花 zǒu mǎ kàn huā, 'looking at flowers from a galloping horse' — to take a hasty, superficial look, a phrase that preserves the old 'run' sense.