ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

to walk / to go / to leave

zǒu
7 strokes · 走 (walk radical) — a person over a foot 止 · HSK 1

Where 走 comes from

走 is a picture of a person swinging their arms (top) above a foot (止, bottom) — a body in motion. Interestingly, in ancient Chinese 走 meant 'to RUN'; over time it softened to 'to walk'. (The classical 'walk' was 行.)

走 in Chinese culture

走 means walk, but in conversation it often means 'to leave / get going': 我走了 ('I'm off!') is how you announce you're leaving. 走吧 = 'let's go'. As a radical at the bottom-left (辶, the 'walking' form), it appears in tons of motion words you'll meet: 这 (this — once 'to go to'), 进 (enter), 远 (far), 近 (near). Motion is everywhere in 走.

Example

走了 zǒu le — left / gone (I'm off)

我走了。
Wǒ zǒu le.
I'm leaving / I'm off.

How to remember it

Arms swinging over a foot — a body in motion: to WALK, to GO.

走 meant 'to run' in ancient Chinese — it slowed to 'walk' over the centuries. Its squished radical form 辶 powers dozens of motion characters: 进 (enter), 远 (far), 这 (this).

Same sound, different tones

Words unlocked by 走

走了 zǒu le
(have) left / I'm off
走吧 zǒu ba
let's go
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