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FrequencyVery 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.
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.
verbto run (classical Chinese; still the everyday meaning in Cantonese)
verbto move (of a machine, clock, or a piece in chess); to pass through, to travel by (a route)
verbto leak, to let out; to depart from the original state (走味 'lose flavour', 走样 'lose shape')
verbto 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)
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.
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