HSK 6 · Adjectives

丢三落四 diūsānlàsì “forgetful” in Chinese

Traditional 丟三落四

What 丢三落四 means

  1. forgetful
  2. scatterbrained
  3. empty-headed

How to say 丢三落四

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale丢diū1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale三sān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale落là4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale四sì4th tone, falling

丢三落四 in a sentence

  1. 他总是丢三落四的，今天又忘了带钥匙。

    Tā zǒngshì diūsānlàsì de, jīntiān yòu wàng le dài yàoshi.

    He’s always forgetting things; today he forgot his keys again.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 出门前检查一下，别丢三落四的。

    Chūmén qián jiǎnchá yíxià, bié diūsānlàsì de.

    Check before you go out so you don’t leave anything behind.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 丢三落四 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 丢 (diū) with each of its parts in a different colour
丢diūto lose
  • 王king · wáng
  • 厶private · sī
The character 三 (sān) with each of its parts in a different colour
三sānthree
  • 一one · yī
  • 二two · èr

Memory aidThree strokes for three.

The character 落 (luò) with each of its parts in a different colour
落làto leave out
  • 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 là.

The character 四 (sì) with each of its parts in a different colour
四sìfour
  • 囗enclosure · wéi
  • 儿legs · ér

How to write 丢三落四

丢 6 strokes · 三 3 strokes · 落 12 strokes · 四 5 strokes

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

丢三落四 (diūsānlàsì) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 丢三落四 (diūsānlàsì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 丢三落四

Words with 丢

丢diū · to lose丢人diūrén · to lose face

Words with 三

三sān · three再三zàisān · over and over again

Words with 落

降落jiàngluò · to descend落后luòhòu · to fall behind角落jiǎoluò · corner堕落duòluò · to degenerate落成luòchéng · to be completed (building)冷落lěngluò · to snub落实luòshí · to put into effect

Words with 四

四sì · four四季sìjì · the four seasons四肢sìzhī · limbs

More words: Adjectives

粗鲁cūlǔ · rude得力délì · capable得天独厚détiāndúhòu · richly endowed by nature典型diǎnxíng · typical短促duǎncù · brief端正duānzhèng · upright对称duìchèn · symmetrical额外éwài · extra

FAQs

丢三落四 (diūsānlàsì) means “forgetful” or “scatterbrained”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it diūsānlàsì: diū with a 1st tone, then sān with a 1st tone, then là with a 4th tone, then sì 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, 丢三落四 is written 丟三落四. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type diusanlasi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 丢三落四 from the suggestions. Typing diusanlasi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
丢三落四 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.