# 1 Samuel in Chinese — vocabulary profile

> 1 Samuel uses 1,328 distinct Chinese characters and 2,215 distinct words across 28,433 characters and 809 verses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). 57.7% of its word tokens are HSK 1-3, ranking it 42nd of 66 books from easiest to hardest by that measure.

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Chapters | 31 |
| Verses | 809 |
| Chinese characters | 28,433 |
| Distinct characters | 1,328 |
| Word tokens | 20,414 |
| Distinct words | 2,215 |
| Average verse | 35 characters |
| HSK 1-3 word tokens | 57.7% |
| HSK 1-6 word tokens | 70.4% |
| Not in HSK 1-9 | 24.1% |
| Difficulty rank | 42 of 66 (1 = easiest) |
| Reading time | 109 min at 260 chars/min |
| Testament | Old Testament |

## Most frequent words in this book

| # | Word | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 说 | 445 |
| 2 | 扫罗 | 323 |
| 3 | 耶和华 | 318 |
| 4 | 大卫 | 306 |
| 5 | 人 | 295 |
| 6 | 去 | 163 |
| 7 | 拿 | 162 |
| 8 | 亚 | 149 |
| 9 | 母 | 140 |
| 10 | 撒 | 137 |
| 11 | 耳 | 137 |
| 12 | 非利士人 | 131 |
| 13 | 来 | 114 |
| 14 | 有 | 110 |
| 15 | 王 | 104 |
| 16 | 神 | 99 |
| 17 | 必 | 97 |
| 18 | 要 | 94 |
| 19 | 约 | 88 |
| 20 | 以色列 | 86 |
| 21 | 那里 | 85 |
| 22 | 利 | 82 |
| 23 | 一 | 76 |
| 24 | 儿子 | 73 |
| 25 | 单 | 72 |
| 26 | 使 | 66 |
| 27 | 以色列人 | 66 |
| 28 | 面前 | 65 |
| 29 | 跟随 | 64 |
| 30 | 地 | 63 |
| 31 | 百姓 | 63 |
| 32 | 拉 | 57 |
| 33 | 求 | 57 |
| 34 | 仆人 | 57 |
| 35 | 作 | 54 |
| 36 | 基 | 53 |
| 37 | 玛 | 49 |
| 38 | 给 | 49 |
| 39 | 见 | 49 |
| 40 | 告诉 | 49 |
| 41 | 比 | 49 |
| 42 | 若 | 48 |
| 43 | 行 | 48 |
| 44 | 到了 | 46 |
| 45 | 杀 | 45 |
| 46 | 的话 | 43 |
| 47 | 约柜 | 43 |
| 48 | 这里 | 42 |
| 49 | 问 | 40 |
| 50 | 事 | 40 |

## Words found in 1 Samuel and nowhere else

锉 查点 列队 戟 决意 多益 疯癫 疯子 虼蚤 侵 赔罪 老鼠 匣子 厨 役

## Chapters, easiest first

| Chapter | HSK 1-3 | Verses | Characters |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 Samuel 30 | 63.3% | 31 | 1,002 |
| 1 Samuel 25 | 62.6% | 43 | 1,563 |
| 1 Samuel 9 | 62.2% | 27 | 1,061 |
| 1 Samuel 20 | 62% | 42 | 1,403 |
| 1 Samuel 29 | 61.7% | 11 | 483 |
| 1 Samuel 19 | 61.6% | 24 | 803 |
| 1 Samuel 16 | 60.8% | 23 | 867 |
| 1 Samuel 22 | 60.1% | 23 | 882 |
| 1 Samuel 10 | 59.8% | 27 | 952 |
| 1 Samuel 2 | 59.7% | 36 | 1,279 |
| 1 Samuel 28 | 58.8% | 25 | 868 |
| 1 Samuel 14 | 58.7% | 52 | 1,868 |
| 1 Samuel 21 | 58.6% | 15 | 549 |
| 1 Samuel 26 | 58.1% | 25 | 972 |
| 1 Samuel 17 | 57.8% | 58 | 2,009 |
| 1 Samuel 31 | 57.6% | 13 | 418 |
| 1 Samuel 12 | 57.4% | 25 | 912 |
| 1 Samuel 24 | 57% | 22 | 719 |
| 1 Samuel 6 | 56.8% | 21 | 876 |
| 1 Samuel 11 | 56.8% | 15 | 529 |
| 1 Samuel 23 | 56.4% | 29 | 1,018 |
| 1 Samuel 8 | 55.8% | 22 | 583 |
| 1 Samuel 1 | 55.7% | 28 | 900 |
| 1 Samuel 27 | 55.3% | 12 | 432 |
| 1 Samuel 13 | 54.1% | 23 | 773 |
| 1 Samuel 5 | 53.1% | 12 | 481 |
| 1 Samuel 3 | 52.9% | 21 | 648 |
| 1 Samuel 18 | 52.9% | 30 | 889 |
| 1 Samuel 4 | 52.9% | 22 | 850 |
| 1 Samuel 15 | 48.7% | 35 | 1,200 |
| 1 Samuel 7 | 43.3% | 17 | 644 |

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/reference/books/1-samuel · Read it: https://chinese-bible.com/en/1-samuel

## Method

- Text: 和合本 (Chinese Union Version), simplified script — public domain
- Words: forward maximum matching against CC-CEDICT (this site's own segmentation)
- HSK levels: HSK 3.0 levels from the complete-hsk-vocabulary list; band 7 covers HSK 7-9
- Reading times: 260 characters a minute (an assumption)
- Computed: 2026-09-22

These are reproducible counts over a public-domain text, not a peer-reviewed study. Difficulty ranks are one stated formula, not a validated readability score.


---

- Definitions: CC-CEDICT, licensed CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- If you share this file onward, keep this notice and share alike.
- Character data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License / LGPL).
- Bible text: public domain — 和合本 · World English Bible · Louis Segond 1910.
- Built with https://chinese-bible.com