HSK 2 · Particles

一下 yíxià “(after a verb) briefly” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 一下 means

  1. (after a verb) briefly
  2. a little
  3. (after a verb) a bit
  4. a little (indicating brief duration, or softening the tone, or suggesting giving sth a try)
  5. all at once
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • suddenly

How to say 一下

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale一yí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale下xià4th tone, falling

Tone change. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. How tone changes work

一下 in a sentence

  1. 我们休息一下，好吗？

    Wǒmen xiūxi yíxià, hǎo ma?

    Let’s take a break, OK?

    Sentence #13994932 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我介绍一下。

    Wǒ jièshào yíxià.

    Let me do the introductions.

    Sentence #1441829 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 请叫他等一下。

    Qǐng jiào tā děng yíxià.

    Please ask him to wait a moment.

    Sentence #659868 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 一下 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 一 (yī) drawn as one shape
一yīoneyí in 一下

一 is a single shape of 1 stroke. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidOne stroke for one, the way people once counted with rods.

The character 下 (xià) with each of its parts in a different colour
下xiàdown
  • 一one · yī
  • 卜divination · bǔ

Memory aidA short stroke below the line: down, below.

How to write 一下

一 1 strokes · 下 3 strokes

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

一下 (yíxià) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 一下 (yíxià). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 一下

Words with 一

一yī · one一半yībàn · half一些yīxiē · some一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little一起yìqǐ · together第一dìyī · first一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely一共yígòng · altogether一样yíyàng · the same

Words with 下

下xià · down下午xiàwǔ · afternoon下雨xiàyǔ · to rain下班xiàbān · to finish work下课xiàkè · to finish class下面xiàmiàn · below下去xiàqù · to go down下来xiàlai · to come down以下yǐxià · below留下liúxia · to leave behind

More words: Particles & Connectors

从cóng · from到dào · to对duì · correct往wǎng · to go (in a direction)着zhe · particle for an ongoing action or state (-ing)啊a · ah把bǎ · pretransitive particle被bèi · by

FAQs

一下 (yíxià) means “(after a verb) briefly” or “a little”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it yíxià: yí with a 2nd tone, then xià with a 4th tone. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 一下 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yixia with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 一下 from the suggestions. Typing yixia into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
一下 is an HSK 2 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.