HSK 6 · Time

瞬间 shùnjiān “instant” in Chinese

Traditional 瞬間

What 瞬间 means

  1. instant
  2. in an instant
  3. moment
  4. in a flash

How to say 瞬间

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale瞬shùn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale间jiān1st tone, high and level

瞬间 in a sentence

  1. 那是个美好的瞬间。

    Nà shì ge měihǎo de shùnjiān.

    That was a beautiful moment.

    Sentence #6628382 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 我瞬间对你肃然起敬！

    Wǒ shùnjiān duì nǐ sùránqǐjìng!

    I instantly feel a deep respect for you!

    Sentence #1517392 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 瞬间 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 瞬 (shùn) with each of its parts in a different colour
瞬shùnto wink
  • 目eye · mùMeaning part
  • 舜legendary ruler · ShùnSound part

目 hints at the meaning (eye); 舜 (Shùn) hints at the sound. Compare it with shùn.

The character 间 (jiān) with each of its parts in a different colour
间jiānbetween
  • 门gate · mén
  • 日sun · rì

Memory aidSunlight 日 coming through a gap in the gate 门: a gap, the space between, a room.

How to write 瞬间

瞬 17 strokes · 间 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 瞬间

Words with 间

间jiān · (measure word for rooms)时间shíjiān · time房间fángjiān · room中间zhōngjiān · middle洗手间xǐshǒujiān · toilet之间zhījiān · between卫生间wèishēngjiān · bathroom期间qījiān · period of time空间kōngjiān · space间隔jiàngé · interval

More words: Time & Sequence

时常shícháng · often世代shìdài · for generations时光shíguāng · time时机shíjī · opportunity随即suíjí · immediately岁月suìyuè · years往常wǎngcháng · usually (in the past)往事wǎngshì · the past

FAQs

瞬间 (shùnjiān) means “instant” or “in an instant”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shùnjiān: shùn with a 4th tone, then jiān with a 1st 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, 瞬间 is written 瞬間. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shunjian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 瞬间 from the suggestions. Typing shunjian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
瞬间 is an HSK 6 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.