HSK 5 · Adjectives

陌生 mòshēng “strange” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 陌生 means

  1. strange
  2. unfamiliar

How to say 陌生

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale陌mò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale生shēng1st tone, high and level

陌生 in a sentence

  1. 风景对我来说很陌生。

    Fēngjǐng duì wǒ lái shuō hěn mòshēng.

    The scenery is unfamiliar to me.

    Sentence #9965474 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他对我们来说是完全陌生的。

    Tā duì wǒmen lái shuō shì wánquán mòshēng de.

    He was a complete stranger to us.

    Sentence #2338728 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 在公车上有个陌生人跟我说话。

    Zài gōngchē shàng yǒu ge mòshēngrén gēn wǒ shuōhuà.

    A stranger spoke to me on the bus.

    Sentence #13656784 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 陌生 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 陌 (mò) with each of its parts in a different colour
陌mòraised path
  • 阝place
  • 百one hundred · bǎi
The character 生 (shēng) drawn as one shape
生shēngto grow; to give birth; to produce

生 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA shoot growing up out of the soil 土: to grow, to be born.

How to write 陌生

陌 8 strokes · 生 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 陌生

Words with 生

医生yīshēng · doctor学生xuésheng · student先生xiānsheng · mr大学生dàxuéshēng · university student小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student中学生zhōngxuéshēng · middle-school student生日shēngrì · birthday生病shēngbìng · to get sick生气shēngqì · angry女生nǚshēng · female student

More words: Adjectives

密切mìqiè · close苗条miáotiao · (of a woman) slim明显míngxiǎn · clear模糊móhu · vague嫩nèn · young and tender能干nénggàn · capable浓nóng · concentrated片面piànmiàn · one-sided

FAQs

陌生 (mòshēng) means “strange” or “unfamiliar”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it mòshēng: mò with a 4th tone, then shēng with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 陌生 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mosheng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 陌生 from the suggestions. Typing mosheng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
陌生 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.