HSK 3 · Verbs

迟到 chídào “arrive late” in Chinese

Traditional 遲到

What 迟到 means

  1. arrive late

How to say 迟到

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale迟chí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale到dào4th tone, falling

迟到 in a sentence

  1. 对不起，我迟到了。

    Duìbuqǐ, wǒ chídào le.

    Sorry I’m late.

    Sentence #444740 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 今天他又迟到了。

    Jīntiān tā yòu chídào le.

    He’s late again today.

    Sentence #11837804 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 因为堵车，我开会迟到了。

    Yīnwèi dǔchē, wǒ kāihuì chídào le.

    I was late for the meeting because of the traffic.

    Sentence #8775992 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 迟到 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 迟 (chí) with each of its parts in a different colour
迟chílate
  • 尺part of the characterSound part
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part
The character 到 (dào) with each of its parts in a different colour
到dàoto reach; to arrive
  • 至arrive · zhìMeaning part
  • 刂knife form of 刀 · dāoSound part

至 hints at the meaning (arrive); 刂 (dāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with dào.

Memory aidArrive 至 gives the meaning; the knife 刂 (刀 dāo) gives the sound: to arrive.

How to write 迟到

迟 7 strokes · 到 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

迟到 (chídào) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 迟到 (chídào). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 迟到

Words with 迟

推迟tuīchí · to postpone迟早chízǎo · sooner or later迟疑chíyí · to hesitate迟钝chídùn · slow-witted迟缓chíhuǎn · slow

Words with 到

到dào · to遇到yùdào · to meet想到xiǎngdào · to think of感到gǎndào · to feel见到jiàndào · to see做到zuòdào · to accomplish直到zhídào · until得到dédào · to get收到shōudào · to receive受到shòudào · to receive (praise

More words: Common Verbs

帮忙bāngmáng · to help包bāo · to cover变化biànhuà · change参加cānjiā · participate打扫dǎsǎo · to clean打算dǎsuàn · to plan带dài · band发fā · send out

FAQs

迟到 (chídào) means “arrive late”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it chídào: chí with a 2nd tone, then dào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 迟到 is written 遲到. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chidao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 迟到 from the suggestions. Typing chidao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
迟到 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.