HSK 6 · Society

阶层 jiēcéng “social class” in Chinese

Traditional 階層

What 阶层 means

  1. social class
  2. stratum

How to say 阶层

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale阶jiē1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale层céng2nd tone, rising

阶层 in a sentence

  1. 中国有日益壮大的中产阶层。

    Zhōngguó yǒu rìyì zhuàngdà de zhōngchǎn jiēcéng.

    China has a growing middle class.

    Sentence #10194197 from Tatoeba

How 阶层 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 阶 (jiē) with each of its parts in a different colour
阶jiērank or step
  • 阝placeMeaning part
  • 介agent · jièSound part

阝 hints at the meaning (place); 介 (jiè) hints at the sound. Compare it with jiē.

The character 层 (céng) with each of its parts in a different colour
层céngto pile on top of one another
  • 尸corpse · shī
  • 云cloud · yún

How to write 阶层

阶 6 strokes · 层 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 阶层

Words with 阶

阶段jiēduàn · stage台阶táijiē · steps

Words with 层

层céng · mw for layers层次céngcì · level层出不穷céngchūbùqióng · to emerge one after another

More words: Society & Law

剪彩jiǎncǎi · to cut the ribbon (at an opening ceremony)间谍jiàndié · spy将军jiāngjūn · general (military rank)监狱jiānyù · prison解放jiěfàng · to liberate机构jīgòu · organisation忌讳jìhuì · taboo竞选jìngxuǎn · to run for office

FAQs

阶层 (jiēcéng) means “social class” or “stratum”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it jiēcéng: jiē with a 1st tone, then céng with a 2nd 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, 阶层 is written 階層. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jieceng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 阶层 from the suggestions. Typing jieceng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
阶层 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.