2025 HSK examination syllabus

HSK 4
vocabulary.

四级词汇

Read longer narratives and discuss familiar subjects with vocabulary for relationships, explanations, and abstract ideas.

1,000new words
2,000cumulative words
What to learn

Notice word combinations and sentence context instead of memorizing isolated translations.

How to use this list

Use the list as a reading reference: search for an unfamiliar word, hear it, and return to the sentence where you found it.

2026 rollout: This syllabus was published in November 2025 and became effective in July 2026. The official second-round HSK 3.0 global trial is scheduled for September 20, 2026, so confirm the syllabus and test format with your center.

List scope

All 2,000 words from HSK 1 through HSK 4.

HSK 4 only 1,000HSK 1–4 combined 2,000
Official 2025 syllabus

HSK 4 vocabulary

Words 1–100 of 2,000Hear any word · Save useful vocabulary

vegetable; greens (CL:棵[ke1]); dish (of food) (CL:樣|样[yang4],道[dao4],盤|盘[pan2])

to bore through; to pierce; to perforate; to go through (e.g. a tunnel); to cross (e.g. a street)

university student; college student

of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun)

(prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed

前缀

to touch briefly; to tap; to mark with a dot; to check off (on a list)

量、(名)

inn; old-style hotel (CL:家[jia1]); (bound form) shop; store

I'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down; to disappoint

many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess

形、动、代、(数、副)

how much?; how many?; (phone number, student ID etc) what number?

to divide; to separate; to distribute; to allocate

量、(动、名)

(classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier); (bound form) individual

good-looking; nice-looking; (of a movie, book, TV show etc) good

(literary) to call out; to command; (bound form) bugle; trumpet

名、量

to go back; to return; to turn back; to turn around; to reply; to answer

动、(量)

can; to have the skill; to know how to; to be likely to; to be sure to

to think that ...; to feel that ...; to feel (uncomfortable etc)

to open (transitive or intransitive); (of ships, vehicles, troops etc) to start

to drive a car (or train etc); (slang) to post sexual content online; to make a sexual joke

Vocabulary levels, pinyin, parts of speech, and counts follow the official 2025 HSK examination syllabus, published by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation and effective July 2026. English glosses are adapted from CC-CEDICT under CC BY-SA 4.0; context may change the best translation.