求
Tap the pinyin to hear it
to seek; to look for; to request; to demand; to beseech
- HSK 3.0
- Level 2
- Old HSK
- Level 3
- Strokes
- 7
- Radical
- 水 +2
- Structure
- Overlaid 叠加
- Traditional
- 求
- Common rank
- #577
- Unicode
- U+6C42
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 求 is formed
How to remember it
request · Heisig RSH #140
snowflake + a drop of + 一 one
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 求
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不求人 | backscratcher (made from bamboo etc) | |
| 死中求生 | to seek life in death (idiom); to fight for one's life | |
| 求之不得 | lit. seek but fail to get (idiom); fig. exactly what one’s been looking for | |
| 毛里求斯 | Mauritius | |
| 求子 | (of a childless couple) to pray for a son; to try to have a child | |
| 求人 | to ask for help; to ask a favor; to recruit talented people | |
| 求学 | to pursue one's studies; to attend school; to seek knowledge | |
| 求生 | to seek survival; to possess the will to live | |
| 力求 | to make every effort to; striving to do one's best | |
| 求好心切 | to demand the highest standards of sb (or oneself) (idiom); to strive to achieve the best … | |
| 千军易得，一将难求 | Easy to raise an army of one thousand, but hard to find a good general. (idiom) | |
| 求生意志 | will to live; will to survive | |
| 实事求是 | lit. to seek truth from facts (idiom); fig. to be practical and realistic | |
| 权利要求 | claim to rights (copyright, patent etc) | |
| 求得 | to ask for sth and receive it; to try to obtain; to look for and obtain | |
| 求情 | to plea for leniency; to ask for a favor | |
| 求同 | to seek consensus; to seek conformity | |
| 求和 | to sue for peace; to look for a draw (chess); summation (math.) | |
| 求教 | to ask for advice; seeking instruction | |
| 求人不如求己 | if you want sth done well, do it yourself (idiom) |
Sound family
These characters use 求 as their sound component — compare how they read.