# New Words Appear at N^0.482 While Reading

> Reading the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) from the beginning, distinct vocabulary grows as the number of words read to the power 0.482 — so each doubling of how much you have read adds only about 40% more new words.

Question: how fast new words appear when reading
Answer: β = 0.482
Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/reference/how-fast-new-words-appear

Heaps' law describes how a text's vocabulary grows as you read: distinct words ≈ K·N^β, where N is words read. Fitted over this text in canonical order, sampled every thousand words, β comes out at 0.482 with K 17.74. Below 1 means what every reader hopes for — the further you read, the fewer surprises per page.

The curve in concrete terms: Genesis alone introduces 2,781 distinct words, 24.9% of the Bible's whole vocabulary, in its first 33,134 words of text. By the end of the Old Testament you have met 9,897 (88.6%), and Matthew — a whole book — adds only 234 more.

That asymmetry is the argument for finishing something rather than sampling: the hard work is front-loaded. It is also why the site's decks are built per book in frequency order — the first two hundred words of a book carry most of its repetitions, and the rest of it is largely vocabulary you already met.

## Vocabulary met while reading in canonical order

| After | Words of text read | Distinct words met | Share of the Bible's vocabulary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Genesis | 33,134 | 2,781 | 24.9% |
| Deuteronomy | 127,160 | 5,126 | 45.9% |
| Psalms | 353,239 | 8,362 | 74.9% |
| Isaiah | 403,268 | 9,211 | 82.5% |
| Malachi | 507,198 | 9,897 | 88.6% |
| Matthew | 526,966 | 10,131 | 90.7% |
| John | 577,923 | 10,421 | 93.3% |
| Revelation | 663,876 | 11,168 | 100% |


## Questions

**Does reading order change this?**

The fit is for canonical order. Reading the Gospels first meets a smaller vocabulary faster — their 3,986 words already cover 89.6% of the whole Bible's word tokens.

**What is K?**

The constant in K·N^β, fitted here at 17.74. It has no meaning on its own; it scales the curve.

**How was the fit made?**

Least squares on log(distinct words) against log(words read), sampled every 1,000 words across all 663,876 tokens.

## 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