HSK 6 · Verbs

堕落 duòluò “to degenerate” in Chinese

Traditional 墮落

What 堕落 means

  1. to degenerate
  2. to go astray (morally)
  3. to degrade
  4. to become depraved
  5. corrupt
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • a fall from grace

How to say 堕落

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale堕duò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale落luò4th tone, falling

堕落 in a sentence

  1. 你不要自甘堕落。

    Nǐ búyào zìgān duòluò.

    Don’t let yourself go astray.

    Sentence #1235651 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 堕落 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 堕 (duò) with each of its parts in a different colour
堕duòto fall; to sink
  • 陏to accompany · SuíSound part
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 陏 (Suí) hints at the sound. Compare it with duò.

The character 落 (luò) with each of its parts in a different colour
落luòto fall or drop
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 洛a river in the Shanxi province · luòSound part

艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 洛 (luò) hints at the sound. Compare it with luò.

How to write 堕落

堕 11 strokes · 落 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 堕落

Words with 落

降落jiàngluò · to descend落后luòhòu · to fall behind角落jiǎoluò · corner落成luòchéng · to be completed (building)冷落lěngluò · to snub落实luòshí · to put into effect丢三落四diūsānlàsì · forgetful

More words: Common Verbs

对付duìfu · to deal with堆积duījī · to pile up对抗duìkàng · to resist杜绝dùjué · to put an end to堵塞dǔsè · to block恶化èhuà · to worsen遏制èzhì · to curb发动fādòng · to start

FAQs

堕落 (duòluò) means “to degenerate” or “to go astray (morally)”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it duòluò: duò with a 4th tone, then luò with a 4th 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, 堕落 is written 墮落. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type duoluo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 堕落 from the suggestions. Typing duoluo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
堕落 is an HSK 6 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.