来 (lái): meaning and stroke order
来 (lái) means to come, (used as a substitute for a more specific verb).
来
- Simplified
- 来
- Traditional
- 來
- Pinyin
- lái
Audio preview uses your device’s Chinese voice. It is not a recording.
Stroke order of 来
来
- lái to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb)
- 7 strokes
- Traditional form: 來
Stroke by stroke
Practise the whole word
Write each character in its box. A hint appears after a few wrong strokes.
Meaning of 来
-
lái
Traditional 來
- to come
- (used as a substitute for a more specific verb)
- hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5])
- ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3 yi3 lai2])
- for the past (amount of time)
- (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 來世|来世[lai2 shi4])
- (between two verbs) in order to
- (after a round number) approximately
- (used after 得[de2] to indicate possibility, as in 談得來|谈得来[tan2 de5 lai2], or after 不[bu4] to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不來|吃不来[chi1 bu5 lai2])
Radical and structure
- 来
- Radical 木 (Kangxi radical 75) · 7 strokes · built from 未 and 丷
Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan database. Structure: the shapes a character is written with (BabelStone IDS), not necessarily parts that carry meaning or sound.
Words with 来
- 上来 shàng lái to come up; to approach
- 下来 xià lai to come down; (completed action marker)
- 来自 lái zì to come from (a place); From: (in email header)
- 出来 chū lái to come out; to appear
- 后来 hòu lái afterwards; later; newly arrived
- 本来 běn lái original; originally
- 用来 yòng lái to be used for
- 过来 guò lái to come over; to manage
- 回来 huí lai to return; to come back
- 起来 qǐ lai to stand up; to get up; also pr. [qi3lai2]
- 传来 chuán lái (of a sound) to come through; to be heard
- 原来 yuán lái original; former; originally; formerly; at first
来 in our stories
Preview version — Chinese review in progress.
-
面条很好吃，大卫明天也来！
miàntiáo hěn hǎochī Dàwèi míngtiān yě lái
The noodles are delicious; David will come again tomorrow!
From the story At the restaurant HSK 1
-
一个女人跑来：“这是我的包！”
yí gè nǚrén pǎo lái zhè shì wǒ de bāo
A woman runs up: "This is my bag!"
From the story Not my bag HSK 1
-
新年的时候，年来吃东西。
xīnnián de shíhou Nián lái chī dōngxi
At New Year Nian came to eat.
From the story The story of Nian HSK 1
Where you learn it
来 appears in the vocabulary of our HSK 1 learning material. This is a Mythic Mandarin word list, not an official HSK list.
Stories using 来
- At the restaurant HSK 1
- Not my bag HSK 1
- The story of Nian HSK 1
- At the airport HSK 2
- The train to Xi'an HSK 3
- The honest answer HSK 3
Dictionary data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Stroke data: Hanzi Writer data, derived from Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License). Animation: Hanzi Writer (MIT licence). Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan (Unicode License v3).