HSK 1 · Family

同学 tóngxué “classmate” in Chinese

Traditional 同學

What 同学 means

  1. classmate
  2. to study at the same school
  3. fellow student

Measure word 位 wèi or 个 gè · 一位同学 yí wèi tóngxué

How to say 同学

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale同tóng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale学xué2nd tone, rising

同学 in a sentence

  1. 他是我的同学。

    Tā shì wǒ de tóngxué.

    He is my classmate.

    Sentence #11837695 from Tatoeba

  2. 你跟新同学相处的怎么样？

    Nǐ gēn xīn tóngxué xiāngchǔ de zěnmeyàng?

    How are you getting along with your new classmates?

    Sentence #2254349 from Tatoeba

  3. 您喜欢班里的同学吗？

    Nín xǐhuan bān lǐ de tóngxué ma?

    Do you like your classmates?

    Sentence #7775487 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 同学 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 同 (tóng) with each of its parts in a different colour
同tónglike
  • 凡any · fán
  • 口mouth · kǒu

Memory aidPicture everyone 凡 speaking with one mouth 口: the same, together.

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 同学

同 6 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.

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

Words related to 同学

Words with 同

同事tóngshì · colleague同意tóngyì · agree不同bùtóng · different同时tóngshí · at the same time相同xiāngtóng · the same同情tóngqíng · to sympathise with共同gòngtóng · common同样tóngyàng · likewise胡同hútòng · lane合同hétong · (business) contract

Words with 学

学xué · to learn学生xuésheng · student学校xuéxiào · school学习xuéxí · to study大学dàxué · university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: People, Body & Health

老师lǎoshī · teacher学生xuésheng · student先生xiānsheng · mr小姐xiǎojiě · miss哪些nǎxiē · which ones?那些nàxiē · those它们tāmen · they (for inanimate objects)她们tāmen · they

FAQs

同学 (tóngxué) means “classmate” or “to study at the same school”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it tóngxué: tóng with a 2nd 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, 同学 is written 同學. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 位 (wèi) or 个 (gè). For example, one classmate is 一位同学 (yí wèi tóngxué).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tongxue with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 同学 from the suggestions. Typing tongxue into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
同学 is an HSK 1 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.