HSK 1 · Measure Words

岁 suì “year(s) of age” in Chinese

Traditional 歲

What 岁 means

  1. year(s) of age
  2. classifier for years (of age)
  3. year
  4. year (of crop harvests)

How to say 岁

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale岁suì4th tone, falling

岁 in a sentence

  1. 我十八岁。

    Wǒ shíbā suì.

    I’m 18 years old.

    Sentence #349902 from Tatoeba

  2. 他三岁了。

    Tā sān suì le.

    He’s three now.

    Sentence #10895471 from Tatoeba

  3. 我大他一岁。

    Wǒ dà tā yí suì.

    I’m one year older than him.

    Sentence #9817802 from Tatoeba

How 岁 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 岁 (suì) with each of its parts in a different colour
岁suìyears old
  • 山mountain · shān
  • 夕evening · xī

How to write 岁

岁 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 岁

Words with 岁

岁月suìyuè · years压岁钱yāsuìqián · money given to children at Chinese New Year

More words: Measure Words & Counters

本běn · measure word for books个gè · general measure word些xiē · some块kuài · yuan (currency)一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little

FAQs

岁 (suì) means “year(s) of age” or “classifier for years (of age)”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it suì: suì 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, 岁 is written 歲. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type sui with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 岁 from the suggestions. Typing sui into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
岁 is an HSK 1 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.