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.
小xiǎosmall
亅hook · jué
八eight · bā
Memory aidThree small strokes, like grains: small.
朋péngfriend
月moon · yuè
月moon · yuè
Memory aidIn the oldest writing, two strings of shells side by side. Two 月 side by side are easy to picture as two friends.
友yǒufriend
友 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.
Memory aidTwo hands 又 joined: friendship.
How to write 小朋友
小 3 strokes · 朋 8 strokes · 友 4 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 小朋友 (xiǎopéngyǒu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
小朋友 (xiǎopéngyǒu) means “child” or “little friend (form of address)”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it xiǎopéngyǒu: xiǎo with a 3rd tone, then péng with a 2nd tone, then yǒu with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 小朋友 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaopengyou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 小朋友 from the suggestions. Typing xiaopengyou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
小朋友 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.
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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). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
小xiǎo3rd tone, dipping
朋péng2nd tone, rising
