HSK 6 · Money

采购 cǎigòu “to purchase (for an organisation)” in Chinese

Traditional 採購

What 采购 means

  1. to purchase (for an organisation)
  2. procurement
  3. to procure (for an enterprise etc)
  4. to purchase

How to say 采购

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale采cǎi3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale购gòu4th tone, falling

采购 in a sentence

  1. 她在公司负责采购办公用品。

    Tā zài gōngsī fùzé cǎigòu bàngōng yòngpǐn.

    She’s responsible for buying office supplies for the company.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 过年前,大家都忙着采购年货。

    Guònián qián, dàjiā dōu máng zhe cǎigòu niánhuò.

    Before Chinese New Year, everyone is busy buying festive goods.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 采购 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 采 (cǎi) with each of its parts in a different colour
采cǎito pick
  • 爫claw form of 爪 · zhǎo
  • 木tree · mù
The character 购 (gòu) with each of its parts in a different colour
购gòuto buy
  • 贝sea shell · bèiMeaning part
  • 勾to hook · gōuSound part

贝 hints at the meaning (sea shell); 勾 (gōu) hints at the sound. Compare it with gòu.

How to write 采购

采 8 strokes · 购 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 采购

Words with 采

Words with 购

More words: Money & Economy

FAQs

采购 (cǎigòu) means “to purchase (for an organisation)” or “procurement”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it cǎigòu: cǎi with a 3rd tone, then gòu 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, 采购 is written 採購. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type caigou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 采购 from the suggestions. Typing caigou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
采购 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.