This study reported on the development of the Chinese vocabulary test as a subtest of the Chinese WAIS-R battery, expanding the initial work documented in Lee and Chan (1995). A sample of 146 respondents were administered the WAIS-R subtests, substituting the English vocabulary test with this Chinese vocabulary test. Items of the vocabulary test were reordered according to the item difficulty indexes of the combined sample of 248 respondents. The results indicated that this Chinese vocabulary test is the most reliable subtest among all Chinese WAIS-R subtests, and it loads saliently on the verbal comprehension factor. The use of this vocabulary test as a part of the WAIS-R battery is discussed.

Key words: Chinese vocabulary test, WAIS-R, Hong Kong