# Genesis in Chinese — vocabulary profile

> Genesis uses 1,502 distinct Chinese characters and 2,781 distinct words across 44,626 characters and 1,532 verses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). 63.7% of its word tokens are HSK 1-3, ranking it 11th of 66 books from easiest to hardest by that measure.

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Chapters | 50 |
| Verses | 1,532 |
| Chinese characters | 44,626 |
| Distinct characters | 1,502 |
| Word tokens | 33,134 |
| Distinct words | 2,781 |
| Average verse | 29 characters |
| HSK 1-3 word tokens | 63.7% |
| HSK 1-6 word tokens | 74.7% |
| Not in HSK 1-9 | 20.6% |
| Difficulty rank | 11 of 66 (1 = easiest) |
| Reading time | 172 min at 260 chars/min |
| Testament | Old Testament |

## Most frequent words in this book

| # | Word | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 说 | 615 |
| 2 | 人 | 310 |
| 3 | 地 | 257 |
| 4 | 给 | 256 |
| 5 | 神 | 221 |
| 6 | 拉 | 221 |
| 7 | 要 | 216 |
| 8 | 雅各 | 212 |
| 9 | 约瑟 | 203 |
| 10 | 儿子 | 194 |
| 11 | 去 | 179 |
| 12 | 利 | 178 |
| 13 | 来 | 176 |
| 14 | 父亲 | 173 |
| 15 | 有 | 171 |
| 16 | 耶和华 | 164 |
| 17 | 亚 | 147 |
| 18 | 一 | 143 |
| 19 | 那里 | 143 |
| 20 | 亚伯拉罕 | 139 |
| 21 | 生 | 136 |
| 22 | 必 | 136 |
| 23 | 使 | 118 |
| 24 | 叫 | 114 |
| 25 | 便 | 99 |
| 26 | 埃及 | 98 |
| 27 | 兰 | 96 |
| 28 | 拿 | 94 |
| 29 | 百 | 91 |
| 30 | 以撒 | 91 |
| 31 | 法老 | 90 |
| 32 | 扫 | 85 |
| 33 | 妻子 | 82 |
| 34 | 就是 | 81 |
| 35 | 玛 | 79 |
| 36 | 见 | 79 |
| 37 | 亚伯 | 77 |
| 38 | 仆人 | 76 |
| 39 | 作 | 75 |
| 40 | 个 | 75 |
| 41 | 得 | 75 |
| 42 | 一切 | 70 |
| 43 | 七 | 69 |
| 44 | 女儿 | 69 |
| 45 | 死 | 67 |
| 46 | 住 | 66 |
| 47 | 巴 | 64 |
| 48 | 做 | 64 |
| 49 | 带 | 64 |
| 50 | 同 | 64 |

## Words found in Genesis and nowhere else

英勇 侄儿 暗笑 小树 地幔 镯 跑出 草料 野味 看不中 梯子 失宠 有点 纹 花斑 外孙 受尽 容纳 摔跤 哥们 内臣 长波 弟 红线 祖师 政和 官复原职 干瘦 肥大 荒年 粜 籴 虚实 证验 白发苍苍 惨 驮子 常俸 公有

## Chapters, easiest first

| Chapter | HSK 1-3 | Verses | Characters |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Genesis 45 | 71.8% | 28 | 925 |
| Genesis 42 | 71.6% | 38 | 1,299 |
| Genesis 24 | 71% | 66 | 2,098 |
| Genesis 20 | 70% | 18 | 618 |
| Genesis 27 | 69.7% | 46 | 1,407 |
| Genesis 1 | 69.1% | 31 | 751 |
| Genesis 44 | 68.9% | 34 | 1,085 |
| Genesis 18 | 68.8% | 33 | 1,037 |
| Genesis 29 | 68.4% | 35 | 926 |
| Genesis 19 | 68.2% | 38 | 1,216 |
| Genesis 39 | 67.9% | 23 | 734 |
| Genesis 37 | 67.8% | 36 | 1,102 |
| Genesis 43 | 67.5% | 34 | 1,174 |
| Genesis 31 | 66.9% | 55 | 1,687 |
| Genesis 47 | 66.7% | 31 | 1,160 |
| Genesis 34 | 66.5% | 31 | 997 |
| Genesis 32 | 66.1% | 32 | 925 |
| Genesis 50 | 65.8% | 26 | 841 |
| Genesis 40 | 65.7% | 23 | 587 |
| Genesis 17 | 65.6% | 27 | 761 |
| Genesis 2 | 65.5% | 25 | 653 |
| Genesis 3 | 65.2% | 24 | 770 |
| Genesis 38 | 65.1% | 30 | 932 |
| Genesis 33 | 64.9% | 20 | 588 |
| Genesis 30 | 64.6% | 43 | 1,222 |
| Genesis 48 | 64.4% | 22 | 823 |
| Genesis 21 | 63.6% | 34 | 933 |
| Genesis 6 | 63.6% | 22 | 562 |
| Genesis 15 | 63.5% | 21 | 587 |
| Genesis 8 | 62.7% | 22 | 520 |
| Genesis 5 | 62.6% | 32 | 584 |
| Genesis 41 | 62.5% | 57 | 1,543 |
| Genesis 11 | 62.3% | 32 | 720 |
| Genesis 23 | 61.8% | 20 | 582 |
| Genesis 26 | 61.6% | 35 | 1,107 |
| Genesis 13 | 61.2% | 18 | 486 |
| Genesis 22 | 61% | 24 | 754 |
| Genesis 12 | 60.8% | 20 | 601 |
| Genesis 9 | 60.5% | 29 | 674 |
| Genesis 7 | 59.4% | 24 | 593 |
| Genesis 28 | 59% | 22 | 668 |
| Genesis 35 | 58.6% | 29 | 822 |
| Genesis 49 | 58.3% | 33 | 942 |
| Genesis 46 | 57.8% | 34 | 935 |
| Genesis 4 | 55.9% | 26 | 729 |
| Genesis 16 | 55.1% | 16 | 490 |
| Genesis 25 | 54.7% | 34 | 905 |
| Genesis 10 | 49% | 32 | 627 |
| Genesis 14 | 48.5% | 24 | 779 |
| Genesis 36 | 42.1% | 43 | 1,165 |

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

## 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.


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- 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