走 (zǒu): to walk

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

我们走吧。

Wǒmen zǒu ba.

Let's go.

他已经走了。

Tā yǐjīng zǒu le.

He has already left.

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).