HSK 3.0 Level 1 · School

大学 dàxué “university” in Chinese

Traditional 大學

What 大学 means

  1. university
  2. college
  3. the Great Learning, one of the Four Books 四书 in Confucianism

Measure word 所 suǒ · 一所大学 yì suǒ dàxué

How to say 大学

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale大dà4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale学xué2nd tone, rising

大学 in a sentence

  1. 他在攒钱上大学。

    Tā zài zǎnqián shàng dàxué.

    He’s saving up to go to university.

    Sentence #357167 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他在大学主修文学。

    Tā zài dàxué zhǔxiū wénxué.

    He majored in literature at university.

    Sentence #5694554 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你儿子在上大学吗？

    Nǐ érzi zài shàng dàxué ma?

    Is your son at university?

    Sentence #9684720 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 大学 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 大 (dà) with each of its parts in a different colour
大dàbig; large; great
  • 一one · yī
  • 人person · rén

Memory aidA person standing with arms stretched wide: big.

The character 学 (xué) with each of its parts in a different colour
学xuéto learn
  • ⺍small form of 小 · xiǎo
  • 冖cover · mì
  • 子child · zǐ

Memory aidA roof 冖 over a child 子 at study.

How to write 大学

大 3 strokes · 学 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 大学

Words with 大

大dà · big大学生dàxuéshēng · university student大家dàjiā · everyone大人dàren · adult大衣dàyī · overcoat大小dàxiǎo · size大熊猫dàxióngmāo · giant panda大夫dàifu · doctor大概dàgài · roughly大约dàyuē · approximately

Words with 学

学xué · to learn学生xuésheng · student同学tóngxué · classmate学校xuéxiào · school学习xuéxí · to study上学shàngxué · to go to school小学xiǎoxué · elementary school中学zhōngxué · middle school大学生dàxuéshēng · university student小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student

More words: School & Work

大学生dàxuéshēng · university student读书dúshū · to read a book汉字hànzì · Chinese character上课shàngkè · to go to class课本kèběn · textbook字典zìdiǎn · dictionary (of characters)留学生liúxuéshēng · international student课文kèwén · text (of a lesson)

FAQs

大学 (dàxué) means “university” or “college”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it dàxué: dà with a 4th tone, then xué 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, 大学 is written 大學. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 所 (suǒ). For example, one university is 一所大学 (yì suǒ dàxué).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type daxue with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 大学 from the suggestions. Typing daxue into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
大学 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 word list. It is not on the older 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.