矿 (kuàng) is a Chinese character meaning “ore”. It is written from 石 (stone; rock) and 广 (wide; dotted cliff radical), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “ore; mine”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
石 + 广
Left–right structure
Structure from: studyhanzi 现代字形核验（hanzi-writer-data 笔画对照：石 5 画 + 广 3 画 = 8 画）
Memory aid
Rock (石) on the left, a wide shelter (广) on the right: stone dug out from under a wide roof — a mine and its ore.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 矿泉水kuàng quán shuǐmineral water矿 = kuàngHSK 4
- 矿工kuàng gōngminer矿 = kuàng
Go deeper
All readings
ore; mine
ore; mineral; a mine
蕴藏在地下的有用矿物，也指开采矿物的场所。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 矿泉水kuàng quán shuǐmineral water矿 = kuàngHSK 4
- 矿工kuàng gōngminer矿 = kuàng
Sound component
广 family onset shift
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 矿 mean?
矿 (kuàng) means ore; mineral; a mine.
How do you pronounce 矿?
It is pronounced kuàng.
What parts is 矿 made of?
石 (stone; rock) and 广 (wide; dotted cliff radical), side by side. The recorded source is: studyhanzi 现代字形核验（hanzi-writer-data 笔画对照：石 5 画 + 广 3 画 = 8 画）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 矿 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 矿?
石. 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 矿?
Common ones are 矿泉水 and 矿工. The reading of 矿 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.