却 (què) is a Chinese character meaning “but”. It is written from 去 (to go; to leave) and 卩 (kneeling person; seal (tally)), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “but; yet”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
去 + 卩
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern-glyph-decomposition (Unicode kIDS ⿰去卩; 笔画数经 hanzi-writer-data 核验 5+2=7)
Memory aid
去 (to go) is already walking off on the left, but 卩 — a person kneeling down — sits back on the right. Halfway out the door, they sit down again: 却 is the word that pulls a sentence back the other way.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 冷却lěng quèto cool down; to cool off却 = què
- 退却tuì quèto retreat; to pull back; to shrink from却 = què
Go deeper
All readings
but; yet
but; yet; however (adverb marking a contrast); to step back, retreat, decline
用在动词前，表示转折，相当于「可是、反而」；也表示后退、推辞。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 冷却lěng quèto cool down; to cool off却 = què
- 退却tuì quèto retreat; to pull back; to shrink from却 = què
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 却 mean?
却 (què) means but; yet; however (adverb marking a contrast); to step back, retreat, decline.
How do you pronounce 却?
It is pronounced què.
What parts is 却 made of?
去 (to go; to leave) and 卩 (kneeling person; seal (tally)), side by side. The recorded source is: modern-glyph-decomposition (Unicode kIDS ⿰去卩; 笔画数经 hanzi-writer-data 核验 5+2=7). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 却 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 却?
卩. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 却?
Common ones are 冷却 and 退却. The reading of 却 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.