HSK 6 · Objects

玩意儿 wányìr “thing” in Chinese

Traditional 玩意兒

What 玩意儿 means

  1. thing
  2. toy
  3. gadget

How to say 玩意儿

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale玩wán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale意yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own儿rneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

玩意儿 in a sentence

  1. 你知道怎么驾驶这玩意儿吗？

    Nǐ zhīdao zěnme jiàshǐ zhè wányìr ma?

    Do you know how to drive this thing?

    Sentence #5393357 from Tatoeba

  2. 能把那玩意儿递给我吗？

    Néng bǎ nà wányìr dìgěi wǒ ma?

    Could you pass me that thing?

    Sentence #1946773 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 那玩意儿怎么在这儿？

    Nà wányìr zěnme zài zhèr?

    What’s that thing doing here?

    Sentence #10329965 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 玩意儿 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 玩 (wán) with each of its parts in a different colour
玩wánto play
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 元first · yuánSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 元 (yuán) hints at the sound. Compare it with wán.

Memory aid王 here is jade 玉: turning a piece of jade over in your hands. 元 (yuán) gives the sound: to play.

The character 意 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
意yìidea; thought; meaning; sense
  • 音sound · yīnSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 音 (yīn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

Memory aidA sound 音 from the heart 心: a thought, a meaning.

The character 儿 (ér) with each of its parts in a different colour
儿rnon-syllabic diminutive suffix
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 乚second (cyclical) form of 乙 · yǐ

Memory aidSimplified from 兒, a child drawn with a big head. Only the legs 儿 are left today.

How to write 玩意儿

玩 8 strokes · 意 13 strokes · 儿 2 strokes

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

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

Words related to 玩意儿

Words with 玩

好玩儿hǎowánr · amusing玩wán · to play开玩笑kāiwánxiào · to play a joke玩具wánjù · plaything玩弄wánnòng · to play with

Words with 意

意思yìsi · meaning没意思méiyìsi · boring有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed同意tóngyì · agree愿意yuànyì · be willing注意zhùyì · pay attention to满意mǎnyì · satisfied意见yìjiàn · idea得意déyì · proud of oneself

Words with 儿

儿子érzi · son女儿nǚ'ér · daughter哪儿nǎr · where这儿zhèr · here那儿nàr · there一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little面条儿miàntiáor · noodles好玩儿hǎowánr · amusing有点儿yǒudiǎnr · slightly男孩儿nánháir · boy

More words: Objects & Materials

水泥shuǐní · cement陶瓷táocí · ceramics铜tóng · copper丸wán · pill武器wǔqì · weapon弦xián · string (of an instrument or bow)纤维xiānwéi · fibre屑xiè · crumbs

FAQs

玩意儿 (wányìr) means “thing” or “toy”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it wányìr: wán with a 2nd tone, then yì with a 4th tone, then r with a neutral 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, 玩意儿 is written 玩意兒. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wanyir with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 玩意儿 from the suggestions. Typing wanyir into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
玩意儿 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.