走 (zǒu) · to walk, to go, to leave

Meanings

1 to walk
2 to go
3 to leave

Characters

走

zǒu

to walk; to go; to leave

Top part resembles a person swinging their arms while walking.

Examples

HSK 1

我们走吧。

Wǒmen zǒu ba.

Let's go.

HSK 2

他已经走了。

Tā yǐjīng zǒu le.

He has already left.

HSK 2

走路去学校要二十分钟。

Zǒulù qù xuéxiào yào èrshí fēnzhōng.

It takes twenty minutes to walk to school.

Tips

history

In ancient Chinese, 走 actually meant 'to run.' The meaning shifted over time to 'to walk.' The old meaning of running is preserved in 奔走 (to run about).

Components

semantic

土 tǔ

earth (here: stylized swinging body)

Top 3 strokes - graphically resembling 土 'earth,' but historically a stylized depiction of a person mid-stride with arms swinging forward. The early 走 oracle-bone form clearly showed a running figure; the upper torso has been compressed in the modern Kaishu form into this 土-like silhouette. Pure graphic shape, not the soil meaning.

semantic

止 zhǐ

footprint; foot

Bottom 4 strokes - the 止 'footprint' graph, picturing a stationary foot mark. The full original 走 image is body-with-arms-swinging (top) over a foot (bottom): a person running or hurrying. Anciently 走 meant 'to run' specifically; the modern softened sense 'to walk' is a later shift, with 跑 picking up the sprinting meaning. Self-radical (Kangxi #156).

Radical

Walk Kangxi #156

The 'walk/run' radical. A bronze-script pictograph of a swinging-armed person above 止 (foot), originally meaning 'to run', later shifted to 'to walk'. Indexes a productive set of motion verbs and speed-adverbs: 起 (rise), 赶 (catch up), 越 (cross over), 趋 (hurry toward), 趁 (take advantage of), 趴 (lie prone). The radical occupies the lower-left wrap of the character.