HSK 6 · Society

侦探 zhēntàn “detective” in Chinese

Traditional 偵探

What 侦探 means

  1. detective
  2. to investigate
  3. to do detective work

How to say 侦探

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale侦zhēn1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale探tàn4th tone, falling

侦探 in a sentence

  1. 我是个侦探。

    Wǒ shì ge zhēntàn.

    I’m a detective.

    Sentence #7774795 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 两个侦探跟着嫌疑人。

    Liǎng ge zhēntàn gēnzhe xiányírén.

    Two detectives followed the suspect.

    Sentence #334839 from Tatoeba

  3. 父亲常常在空闲时间读侦探小说。

    Fùqīn chángcháng zài kòngxián shíjiān dú zhēntàn xiǎoshuō.

    My father often reads detective novels in his spare time.

    Sentence #332836 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 侦探 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 侦 (zhēn) with each of its parts in a different colour
侦zhēnto scout
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 贞virtuous · zhēnSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 贞 (zhēn) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhēn.

The character 探 (tàn) drawn as one shape
探tànto explore

探 is a single shape of 11 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 侦探

侦 8 strokes · 探 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 侦探

Words with 探

探索tànsuǒ · to explore探讨tàntǎo · to discuss探望tànwàng · to visit (esp. someone ill or elderly)勘探kāntàn · to explore探测tàncè · to detect

More words: Society & Law

政策zhèngcè · policy争端zhēngduān · dispute正义zhèngyì · justice争议zhēngyì · dispute治安zhì'ān · public order制裁zhìcái · sanctions治理zhìlǐ · to govern殖民地zhímíndì · colony

FAQs

侦探 (zhēntàn) means “detective” or “to investigate”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zhēntàn: zhēn with a 1st tone, then tàn 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, 侦探 is written 偵探. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhentan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 侦探 from the suggestions. Typing zhentan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
侦探 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.