HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Food

外卖 wàimài “takeaway (food)” in Chinese

Traditional 外賣

What 外卖 means

  1. takeaway (food)
  2. food delivery
  3. to sell takeaway
  4. (of a restaurant) to provide a takeout or home delivery meal
  5. takeout (business)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • takeout (meal)

How to say 外卖

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale外wài4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale卖mài4th tone, falling

外卖 in a sentence

  1. 算了，还是点外卖吧。

    Suànle, háishi diǎn wàimài ba.

    Forget it, let’s just order takeaway.

    Sentence #14067734 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 外卖 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 外 (wài) with each of its parts in a different colour
外wàioutside
  • 夕evening · xī
  • 卜divination · bǔ

Memory aidEvening 夕 beside a divination crack 卜. Picture fortune-telling done at night, out of doors: outside.

The character 卖 (mài) with each of its parts in a different colour
卖màito sell
  • 十ten · shí
  • 买to buy · mǎiMeaning part

买 hints at the meaning (to buy); 买 (mǎi) hints at the sound. Compare it with mài.

How to write 外卖

外 5 strokes · 卖 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 外卖

Words with 外

外边wàibian · outside外wài · outside外国wàiguó · foreign (country)外面wàimiàn · outside外地wàidì · another part of the country外语wàiyǔ · foreign language以外yǐwài · apart from另外lìngwài · additional外公wàigōng · grandpa (mother’s father)意外yìwài · unexpected

Words with 卖

卖mài · to sell出卖chūmài · to betray贩卖fànmài · to sell

More words: Food & Drink

甜tián · sweet香蕉xiāngjiāo · banana饮料yǐnliào · beverage鸡jī · chicken方便面fāngbiànmiàn · instant noodles包子bāozi · bao (steamed stuffed bun)饼干bǐnggān · biscuit干杯gānbēi · to drink a toast

FAQs

外卖 (wàimài) means “takeaway (food)” or “food delivery”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it wàimài: wài with a 4th tone, then mài 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, 外卖 is written 外賣. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type waimai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 外卖 from the suggestions. Typing waimai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
外卖 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 word list. It is not on the older 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.