HSK 4 · Verbs

说明 shuōmíng “to explain” in Chinese

Traditional 說明

What 说明 means

  1. to explain
  2. to illustrate
  3. to indicate
  4. to show
  5. to prove
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • explanation

Measure word 个 gè · 一个说明 yí ge shuōmíng

How to say 说明

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale说shuō1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale明míng2nd tone, rising

说明 in a sentence

  1. 老师说明了词的意思。

    Lǎoshī shuōmíng le cí de yìsi.

    The teacher explained the meaning of the word.

    Sentence #396829 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你能帮我说明一下规则吗？

    Nǐ néng bāng wǒ shuōmíng yíxià guīzé ma?

    Could you explain the rules to me?

    Sentence #785846 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 朋友向我详细说明了外语的学习方法。

    Péngyou xiàng wǒ xiángxì shuōmíng le wàiyǔ de xuéxí fāngfǎ.

    My friend explained to me in detail how to learn foreign languages.

    Sentence #13906252 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 说明 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 说 (shuō) with each of its parts in a different colour
说shuōto speak; to talk; to say
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 兑cash · duìSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 兑 (duì) hints at the sound. Compare it with shuō.

The character 明 (míng) with each of its parts in a different colour
明míngbright
  • 日sun · rì
  • 月moon · yuè

Memory aidThe light of the sun 日 and the moon 月 together: bright.

How to write 说明

说 9 strokes · 明 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 说明

Words with 说

说shuō · to speak说话shuōhuà · to speak听说tīngshuō · to hear (it said that)小说xiǎoshuō · novel胡说húshuō · to talk nonsense据说jùshuō · it is said that说服shuōfú · to persuade传说chuánshuō · legend说不定shuōbudìng · can’t say for sure学说xuéshuō · theory

Words with 明

明天míngtiān · tomorrow明年míngnián · next year明白míngbai · clear聪明cōngming · intelligent证明zhèngmíng · proof明确míngquè · clear表明biǎomíng · to make clear发明fāmíng · to invent光明guāngmíng · bright明显míngxiǎn · clear

More words: Thinking & Talking

判断pànduàn · to judge批评pīpíng · to criticise商量shāngliang · to consult熟悉shúxī · to be familiar with谈tán · to speak讨论tǎolùn · to discuss提醒tíxǐng · to remind填空tiánkòng · to fill in the blanks (on a form or test)

FAQs

说明 (shuōmíng) means “to explain” or “to illustrate”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it shuōmíng: shuō with a 1st tone, then míng with a 2nd 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, 说明 is written 說明. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one to explain is 一个说明 (yí ge shuōmíng).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shuoming with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 说明 from the suggestions. Typing shuoming into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
说明 is an HSK 4 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.