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来

來
lái
HSK 1
#15 most
frequent character
to come, to arrive, to come round
verb

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

来 is a picture of wheat grain, and that was its first meaning. The meaning 'to come' was borrowed for its sound, not from the picture. From 'come' came 'future' and 'to do'.

Drawn as: wheat grain

来 as a component in other characters

meaning1 character
徕
sound8 characters
莱睐涞徕崃赉铼梾

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Example Sentences

我来北京了。
wǒlái běijīng le 。
I have come to Beijing.
你什么时候来?
nǐ shénmeshíhòu lái ?
When will you come?
他要来我家。
tāyào lái wǒjiā 。
He wants to come to my home.

Grammar Points

HSK 1
Directional verbs "lai" and "qu"
HSK 4
Using "lai" as a dummy verb
HSK 4
Using "lai" to connect two verb phrases
HSK 5
Using "lai" and "qu" when "verbing around"…来…去

Words with similar meanings

到dào
to arrive
More formal, often used to indicate reaching a destination.
降临jiànglín
to descend
More poetic or literary, often used in a metaphorical sense.

Homophones

莱lái
name of weed plant (fat hen, goosefoot, pigweed etc)

Words Starting With 来

来不及lái bu jí
there's not enough time (to do sth); it's too late (to do sth)
来得及lái de jí
there's still time; able to do sth in time
来自lái zì
to come from (a place); From: (in email header)
来历lái lì
history; antecedents; origin
来源lái yuán
source (of information etc); origin

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Public Lists with 来

Basic Verbs
Core action verbs like 'go,' 'come,' 'eat,' 'see,' commonly encountered in HSK.
HSK 1
All words for the HSK 1 test