HSK 5 Vocabulary List: 3,599 Words (HSK 3.0)
HSK 5 has 3,599 words in HSK 3.0, 1,599 of them new at this level (the old HSK 2.0 list had 2,500). Fluentide has 292 free stories at the Advanced (HSK 5+) level that use them, with transcript and pinyin.
By Haoshan Hong · Native Mandarin speaker · Updated October 2026
Hear HSK 5 words in a real story
《经济学人》劝华盛顿：让中国抄美国AI
The Economist Urges Washington: Let China Copy American AI — Why Banning Distillation Would Backfire
2 min
What is on the HSK 5 word list?
The other 2,000 come from HSK 1–4. They cover news, business, academic and literary register: the vocabulary of newspapers, lectures, and film dialogue.
Scroll
HSK 5 word list
All 3,557 words from the official HSK 3.0 syllabus, the 1,579 new at HSK 5 first. The syllabus counts 3,599 because a few words are listed once per reading; here each appears once.
Pinyin from the syllabus, definitions from CC-CEDICT. Tap a word for its other senses.
Showing 901–950 of 3,557 · page 19 of 72
人力rénlìHSK 5manpower
- manpower
- labor power
人民rénmínHSK 5the people
- the people
人民币rénmínbìHSK 5Renminbi, the official currency of the PRC (currency codes: RMB or CNY)
- Renminbi, the official currency of the PRC (currency codes: RMB or CNY)
人群rénqúnHSK 5crowd
- crowd
人体réntǐHSK 5human body
- human body
人物rénwùHSK 5person
- person
- personage
- figure (esp. sb of importance)
- character (in a play, novel etc)
- (genre of traditional Chinese painting) figure painting
忍rěnHSK 5to bear
- to bear
- to endure
- to tolerate
- to restrain oneself
认rènHSK 5to recognize
- to recognize
- to know
- to admit
日历rìlìHSK 5calendar
- calendar
- CL:张,本
日用品rìyòngpǐnHSK 5articles for daily use
- articles for daily use
- CL:件
如rúHSK 5as
- as
- as if
- such as
如此rúcǐHSK 5like this
- like this
- so
- such
如何rúhéHSK 5how
- how
- what way
- what
如今rújīnHSK 5nowadays
- nowadays
- now
如同rútóngHSK 5like
- like
- as
如下rúxiàHSK 5as follows
- as follows
软ruǎnHSK 5soft
- soft
- flexible
- variant of 软
软件ruǎnjiànHSK 5software
- software
弱ruòHSK 5weak
- weak
- feeble
- young
- inferior
- not as good as
- (following a decimal or fraction) slightly less than
洒sǎHSK 5to sprinkle
- to sprinkle
- to spray
- to spill
- to shed
赛场sàichǎngHSK 5racetrack
- racetrack
- field (for athletics competition)
色彩sècǎiHSK 5tint
- tint
- coloring
- coloration
- (fig.) flavor
- character
沙漠shāmòHSK 5desert
- desert
- CL:个
沙子shāziHSK 5sand
- sand
- grit
- CL:粒,把
傻shǎHSK 5foolish
- foolish
晒shàiHSK 5(of the sun) to shine on
- (of the sun) to shine on
- to bask in (the sunshine)
- to dry (clothes, grain etc) in the sun
- (fig.) to expose and share (one's experiences and thoughts) on the Web (loanword from "share")
- (coll.) to give the cold shoulder to
- variant of 晒
山区shānqūHSK 5mountain area
- mountain area
- CL:个
删shānHSK 5to delete
- to delete
删除shānchúHSK 5to delete
- to delete
- to cancel
扇shān / shànHSK 5fan
- fan
- sliding, hinged or detachable flat part of sth
- classifier for doors, windows etc
- to fan
- to slap sb on the face
扇子shànziHSK 5fan
- fan
- CL:把
善良shànliángHSK 5good and honest
- good and honest
- kindhearted
善于shànyúHSK 5to be good at
- to be good at
- to be adept at
擅长shànchángHSK 5to be good at
- to be good at
- to be expert in
伤shāngHSK 5to injure
- to injure
- injury
- wound
伤害shānghàiHSK 5to injure
- to injure
- to harm
商家shāngjiāHSK 5merchant
- merchant
- business
- enterprise
商人shāngrénHSK 5merchant
- merchant
- businessman
商务shāngwùHSK 5commercial affairs
- commercial affairs
- commercial
- commerce
- business
商业shāngyèHSK 5business
- business
- trade
- commerce
赏shǎngHSK 5to bestow (a reward)
- to bestow (a reward)
- to give (to an inferior)
- to hand down
- a reward (bestowed by a superior)
- to appreciate (beauty)
上传shàngchuánHSK 5to upload
- to upload
上升shàngshēngHSK 5to rise
- to rise
- to go up
- to ascend
上下shàngxiàHSK 5the top and bottom of sth
- the top and bottom of sth
- the full vertical extent of sth
- from top to bottom
- to go up and down
- before and after (as in 上下文 "context")
- (used after a quantity) approximately
- ... or so
- (in a social hierarchy) the high and the low
- seniors and juniors (as in 上下和睦 "harmony between superiors and subordinates")
- all members of a group (as in 举国上下 "the entire nation")
- relative superiority (as in 不相上下 "evenly matched")
上涨shàngzhǎngHSK 5to rise
- to rise
- to go up
烧shāoHSK 5to burn
- to burn
- to set on fire
- to heat (over a fire)
- to boil (water, tea etc)
- to braise
- to cook
- to prepare food
- to run a fever
- fever
- (coll.) to become full of oneself
- to get carried away
烧烤shāokǎoHSK 5barbecue
- barbecue
- to roast
蛇shéHSK 5snake
- snake
- serpent
- CL:条
- used in 委蛇
- variant of 蛇
舍不得shěbudeHSK 5to hate to do sth
- to hate to do sth
- to hate to part with
- to begrudge
舍得shědeHSK 5to be willing to part with sth
- to be willing to part with sth
Stories that use these HSK 5 words
Each one is a Fluentide Advanced (HSK 5+) story, written inside that word band. Press play; the first few need no account.
HSK 2 Chinese listening episodes
HSK 3 Chinese listening episodes
HSK 4 Chinese listening episodes
HSK 5+ Chinese listening episodes
How to actually learn HSK 5 vocabulary
Reading a word on a page and catching it at speed in a sentence are different skills. The HSK listening section tests the second.
Scroll
The method in practice
Hear HSK 5 vocabulary in real Mandarin
Each HSK 5 episode uses this word band, with the transcript, pinyin and line-by-line English. Five free episodes after a one-tap magic-link sign-in — no password, no payment.