HSK 1 · Common Objects

东西 dōngxi “thing” in Chinese

Traditional 東西

What 东西 means

  1. thing
  2. stuff
  3. person

Measure word 个 gè or 件 jiàn · 一个东西 yí ge dōngxi

How to say 东西

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale东dōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own西xineutral tone, light and short

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

东西 in a sentence

  1. 我正在吃东西。

    Wǒ zhèngzài chī dōngxi.

    I’m eating.

    Sentence #1790133 from Tatoeba

  2. 你给她买东西了吗？

    Nǐ gěi tā mǎi dōngxi le ma?

    Did you buy her something?

    Sentence #10184228 from Tatoeba

  3. 这东西多少钱？

    Zhè dōngxi duōshǎo qián?

    How much is this thing?

    Sentence #420698 from Tatoeba

How 东西 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 东 (dōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
东dōngeast
  • 七seven · qī
  • 小small · xiǎo

Memory aidSimplified from 東, drawn from a sack tied at both ends. It was borrowed for “east”.

The character 西 (xī) with each of its parts in a different colour
西xīwestlight in 东西
  • 兀weak · wù
  • 囗enclosure · wéi

Memory aidDrawn from a bird's nest. It was borrowed early on for “west”.

How to write 东西

东 5 strokes · 西 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 东西

Words with 东

东dōng · East东方dōngfāng · the East东北dōngběi · northeast东南dōngnán · southeast房东fángdōng · landlord股东gǔdōng · shareholder东道主dōngdàozhǔ · host东张西望dōngzhāngxīwàng · to look around in all directions

Words with 西

西瓜xīguā · watermelon西xī · West西方xīfāng · the West西南xīnán · southwest西北xīběi · northwest西红柿xīhóngshì · tomato东张西望dōngzhāngxīwàng · to look around in all directions

More words: Everyday Things

出租车chūzūchē · taxi天气tiānqì · weather猫māo · cat狗gǒu · dog字zì · character汉语Hànyǔ · Mandarin (Han language)报纸bàozhǐ · newspaper考试kǎoshì · exam

FAQs

东西 (dōngxi) means “thing” or “stuff”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it dōngxi: dōng with a 1st tone, then xi 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, 东西 is written 東西. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè) or 件 (jiàn). For example, one thing is 一个东西 (yí ge dōngxi).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dongxi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 东西 from the suggestions. Typing dongxi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
东西 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.