HSK 5 · Adjectives

坚强 jiānqiáng “staunch” in Chinese

Traditional 堅強

What 坚强 means

  1. staunch
  2. strong

How to say 坚强

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale坚jiān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale强qiáng2nd tone, rising

坚强 in a sentence

  1. 生活很困难，但我更坚强。

    Shēnghuó hěn kùnnan, dàn wǒ gèng jiānqiáng.

    Life is hard, but I’m tougher.

    Sentence #332708 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我不够坚强。

    Wǒ búgòu jiānqiáng.

    I’m not strong enough.

    Sentence #9434977 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他很坚强，不会那么容易灰心。

    Tā hěn jiānqiáng, búhuì nàme róngyì huīxīn.

    He’s tough, so he won’t get discouraged that easily.

    Sentence #1944176 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 坚强 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 坚 (jiān) drawn as one shape
坚jiānstrong

坚 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 强 (qiáng) with each of its parts in a different colour
强qiángstrong
  • 弓bow · gōngMeaning part
  • 虽although · suī

弓 hints at the meaning (bow); 虫 (chóng) hints at the sound. Compare it with qiáng.

How to write 坚强

坚 7 strokes · 强 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 坚强

Words with 坚

坚持jiānchí · to persevere with坚决jiānjué · firm坚定jiāndìng · firm坚固jiāngù · sturdy坚韧jiānrèn · tough坚实jiānshí · solid坚硬jiānyìng · hard

Words with 强

强qiáng · strong强调qiángdiào · to emphasise (a statement)强烈qiángliè · strong强迫qiǎngpò · to force倔强juéjiàng · stubborn勉强miǎnqiǎng · reluctantly顽强wánqiáng · tenacious强制qiángzhì · compulsory

More words: Adjectives

灰huī · grey活跃huóyuè · active激烈jīliè · (of competition or fighting) intense坚决jiānjué · firm艰巨jiānjù · arduous艰苦jiānkǔ · difficult狡猾jiǎohuá · crafty结实jiēshi · sturdy

FAQs

坚强 (jiānqiáng) means “staunch” or “strong”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it jiānqiáng: jiān with a 1st tone, then qiáng 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, 坚强 is written 堅強. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jianqiang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 坚强 from the suggestions. Typing jianqiang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
坚强 is an HSK 5 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.