Item HSK level

At the top of each item page, you can see the approximate HSK level of the item.

The HSK has nine level in total numbered 1 to 9, with the last three 7-9 being grouped together.

Here are the details for how the HSK level is calculated for each item type.

Sounds

To compute the HSK level for a sound, we assign the lowest HSK level which has a character that contains that sound.

Components

To compute the HSK level for a component, we assign the lowest HSK level which has a character that contains that component.

Characters

The HSK level for most characters comes directly from the official HSK list.

However, if we have a character that is not contained within that list, we will mark it as having HSK level 7-9+.

Words

The HSK level for most words comes directly from the official list.

However, if we have a word that is not contained in that list, we will mark it as having an HSK level equivalent to the highest HSK level of the characters within it along with a + sign to indicate it is not within the official level itself.

For example, the word 因果 yīnguǒ is not in the HSK word list. The character 因 yīn is in HSK level 2, while the 果 guǒ has HSK level 1. So we mark the word as having level 2+, as that is the highest HSK level of the characters within it.