庚 (gēng) is a Chinese character meaning “the seventh of the ten Heavenly Stems, used for ordering”. It is written from 广 (wide; dotted cliff radical) and 彐 (snout radical; a three-stroke block closed on the right) and 人 (person), one enclosing the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “the seventh Heavenly Stem”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
广 + 彐 + 人
Enclosing structure
- 广 wide; dotted cliff radical · guǎng simplified form
- 彐 snout radical; a three-stroke block closed on the right · jì simplified form
- 人 person · rén simplified form
Structure from: hanzi-writer-data 笔画分组核验（现代字形：第 1–3 笔为广，第 4–6 笔为彐形，第 7–8 笔为人；仅描述现代字形分组，不作字源主张）
Memory aid
Under a broad roof (广) sits a closed three-stroke box (彐), and a person (人) strides out from beneath it. All three parts are really in this character — picture the seventh house on the old calendar's street, with its tenant walking out: 庚.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 贵庚guì gēngyour age (polite way of asking someone's age)庚 = gēng
- 年庚nián gēnga person's age; the year, month, day and hour of someone's birth庚 = gēng
Go deeper
All readings
seventh Heavenly Stem; age
the seventh of the ten Heavenly Stems, used for ordering and for naming years; also a person's age
天干的第七位，用于排序和纪年；也指人的年龄。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 贵庚guì gēngyour age (polite way of asking someone's age)庚 = gēng
- 年庚nián gēnga person's age; the year, month, day and hour of someone's birth庚 = gēng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 庚 mean?
庚 (gēng) means the seventh of the ten Heavenly Stems, used for ordering and for naming years; also a person's age.
How do you pronounce 庚?
It is pronounced gēng.
What parts is 庚 made of?
广 (wide; dotted cliff radical) and 彐 (snout radical; a three-stroke block closed on the right) and 人 (person), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: hanzi-writer-data 笔画分组核验（现代字形：第 1–3 笔为广，第 4–6 笔为彐形，第 7–8 笔为人；仅描述现代字形分组，不作字源主张）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 庚 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 庚?
广. 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 庚?
Common ones are 贵庚 and 年庚. The reading of 庚 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.