HSK 3 · Function Words

地 dì “earth” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 地 means

  1. earth
  2. ground
  3. field
  4. place
  5. land

Also read de: “particle used after a description, before a verb”

Read de, 地 links a description to the verb after it, like -ly in English: 慢慢地走 (mànmàn de zǒu) “walk slowly”. Read dì, it means earth or ground, as in 地上 (dìshang) “on the ground”.

See the page for 地 de

Measure word 片 piàn · 一片地 yí piàn dì

How to say 地

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale地dì4th tone, falling

地 in a sentence

  1. 他坐在地上。

    Tā zuò zài dìshang.

    He was sitting on the floor.

    Sentence #799117 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 地球是我们的家。

    Dìqiú shì wǒmen de jiā.

    The Earth is our home.

    Sentence #6031936 from Tatoeba

  3. 树叶掉在地上。

    Shùyè diào zài dì shàng.

    The leaves fell to the ground.

    Sentence #817370 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 地 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 地 (dì) with each of its parts in a different colour
地dìearth
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part
  • 也also · yěSound part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 也 (yě) hints at the sound. Compare it with dì.

Memory aidEarth 土 gives the meaning: the ground, a place.

How to write 地

地 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 地

Words with 地

地方dìfang · place地铁dìtiě · subway地图dìtú · map外地wàidì · another part of the country草地cǎodì · lawn地点dìdiǎn · place地址dìzhǐ · address地球dìqiú · the earth当地dāngdì · local地区dìqū · region

More words: Particles & Connectors

比赛bǐsài · sports match不但búdàn · not only而且érqiě · moreover除了chúle · besides多么duōme · how跟gēn · to follow关于guānyú · about还是háishi · or

FAQs

地 (dì) means “earth” or “ground”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it dì: dì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 地 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 片 (piàn). For example, one earth is 一片地 (yí piàn dì).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type di with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 地 from the suggestions. Typing di into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
Yes. Read de, 地 means “particle used after a description, before a verb”. That reading has its own page. Read dì, it means “earth”.
地 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.