跨 (kuà): to stride; to step across

Meanings

1 to stride; to step across
2 to span; to straddle; to cross

Characters

跨

kuà

to step across; to stride; to span

Examples

HSK 2

跨年夜你怎么过？

Kuà nián yè nǐ zěnme guò?

How will you spend New Year's Eve?

HSK 3

这座桥跨越了整条河。

Zhè zuò qiáo kuàyuè le zhěng tiáo hé.

This bridge spans the entire river.

HSK 5

他一步跨过了水沟。

Tā yī bù kuàguò le shuǐgōu.

He stepped across the ditch in one stride.

Tips

usage

跨 forms many useful compounds: 跨国 (transnational), 跨越 (to cross over), 跨年 (to cross into the new year), 跨界 (cross-boundary/crossover).

Components

radical

足 zú

foot

Foot radical on the left - the indexing semantic. 跨 means to step over, straddle, cross. The 足 places the action squarely in the leg-and-foot family: 跑 (run), 跳 (jump), 踏 (tread), 跟 (follow at the heel), 越 (leap over). The radical pins 跨 as a foot-action, specifically a long stride.

phonetic

夸 kuā

boast; exaggerate (here phonetic)

Right component supplies the sound: kuā → kuà, just a tone shift. 夸 itself is 大 (large) over 亏 (used phonetically), giving an 'overlarge boast' image. The phonetic also pulls duty in 垮 kuǎ (collapse) and 挎 kuà (sling) - a tight kua family where the over-extension flavour shows through 跨's sense of stretching the legs across.