HSK 5 · Verbs

缩短 suōduǎn “to shorten” in Chinese

Traditional 縮短

What 缩短 means

  1. to shorten
  2. to reduce
  3. to curtail

How to say 缩短

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale缩suō1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale短duǎn3rd tone, dipping

缩短 in a sentence

  1. 有了高铁，两个城市之间的路上时间缩短了很多。

    Yǒu le gāotiě, liǎng ge chéngshì zhījiān de lùshang shíjiān suōduǎn le hěn duō.

    With high-speed rail, travel time between the two cities has been cut a lot.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 请把这篇文章缩短到五百字。

    Qǐng bǎ zhè piān wénzhāng suōduǎn dào wǔ bǎi zì.

    Please shorten this article to five hundred characters.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 缩短 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 缩 (suō) with each of its parts in a different colour
缩suōto withdraw
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 宿to stop · sùSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 宿 (sù) hints at the sound. Compare it with suō.

The character 短 (duǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
短duǎnshort
  • 矢arrow · shǐMeaning part
  • 豆bean · dòuSound part

矢 hints at the meaning (arrow); 豆 (dòu) hints at the sound. Compare it with duǎn.

Memory aidArrows 矢 were once used to measure short lengths. 豆 (dòu) gives the sound: short.

How to write 缩短

缩 14 strokes · 短 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 缩短

Words with 缩

收缩shōusuō · to shrink压缩yāsuō · to compress

Words with 短

短duǎn · short in length短裤duǎnkù · shorts短信duǎnxìn · text message短促duǎncù · brief

More words: Common Verbs

属于shǔyú · to be classified as甩shuǎi · to throw撕sī · to tear碎suì · to shatter逃táo · to escape逃避táobì · to escape提倡tíchàng · to promote体贴tǐtiē · considerate (of other people’s needs)

FAQs

缩短 (suōduǎn) means “to shorten” or “to reduce”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it suōduǎn: suō with a 1st tone, then duǎn with a 3rd 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, 缩短 is written 縮短. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type suoduan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 缩短 from the suggestions. Typing suoduan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
缩短 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.