HSK 3 · Common Objects

照片 zhàopiàn “picture” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 照片 means

  1. picture
  2. photograph

Measure word 张 zhāng or 幅 fú · 一张照片 yì zhāng zhàopiàn

How to say 照片

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale照zhào4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale片piàn4th tone, falling

照片 in a sentence

  1. 那是我妹妹的照片。

    Nà shì wǒ mèimei de zhàopiàn.

    That’s a photo of my younger sister.

    Sentence #838542 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 请问可以给您拍张照片吗？

    Qǐngwèn kěyǐ gěi nín pāi zhāng zhàopiàn ma?

    Excuse me, may I take a photo of you?

    Sentence #2151453 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 照片里的人我都不认识。

    Zhàopiàn lǐ de rén wǒ dōu bú rènshi.

    I don’t know anyone in the photo.

    Sentence #9400774 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 照片 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 照 (zhào) with each of its parts in a different colour
照zhàoto shine
  • 昭bright · zhāoSound part
  • 灬fire form of 火 · huǒMeaning part

灬 hints at the meaning (fire); 昭 (zhāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhào.

Memory aidFire 灬 under 昭 (zhāo) “bright”: to shine, to light up, and also a photo.

The character 片 (piàn) drawn as one shape
片piànthin piece

片 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 照片

照 13 strokes · 片 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 照片

Words with 照

照顾zhàogu · take care of护照hùzhào · passport拍照pāizhào · to take a photo照相zhàoxiàng · to take a photo照相机zhàoxiàngjī · camera照zhào · to shine按照ànzhào · according to执照zhízhào · licence照常zhàocháng · as usual参照cānzhào · to refer to

Words with 片

片piàn · slice片面piànmiàn · one-sided名片míngpiàn · (business) card动画片dònghuàpiàn · animated film片刻piànkè · a moment片断piànduàn · fragment

More words: Everyday Things

习惯xíguàn · habit信用卡xìnyòngkǎ · credit card元yuán · Chinese monetary unit张zhāng · mw for flat objects照相机zhàoxiàngjī · camera只zhī · measure word for animals (a cat种zhǒng · kind出差chūchāi · to go on an official or business trip

FAQs

照片 (zhàopiàn) means “picture” or “photograph”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it zhàopiàn: zhào with a 4th tone, then piàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 照片 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 张 (zhāng) or 幅 (fú). For example, one picture is 一张照片 (yì zhāng zhàopiàn).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhaopian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 照片 from the suggestions. Typing zhaopian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
照片 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.