HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Adjectives

不同 bùtóng “different” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 不同 means

  1. different
  2. distinct
  3. not the same
  4. not alike

How to say 不同

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale不bù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale同tóng2nd tone, rising

不同 in a sentence

  1. 我的计划和你的不同。

    Wǒ de jìhuà hé nǐ de bùtóng.

    My plan is different from yours.

    Sentence #510699 from Tatoeba

  2. 你能看出有什么不同吗？

    Nǐ néng kànchū yǒu shénme bùtóng ma?

    Can you see the difference?

    Sentence #2051032 from Tatoeba

  3. 中国给我许多不同的印象。

    Zhōngguó gěi wǒ xǔduō bùtóng de yìnxiàng.

    China has left me with many different impressions.

    Sentence #905829 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 不同 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 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not so

不 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidPicture a bar 一 across the top that nothing below can get past: not, no.

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.

How to write 不同

不 4 strokes · 同 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 不同

Words with 不

不bù · no不要bùyào · don’t!不客气bú kèqi · you’re welcome对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry不错bùcuò · not bad不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed不但búdàn · not only不少bùshǎo · quite a few不见bújiàn · to be missing不行bùxíng · won’t do

Words with 同

同学tóngxué · classmate同事tóngshì · colleague同意tóngyì · agree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

More words: Adjectives

越yuè · even more长zhǎng · to grow重要zhòngyào · important主要zhǔyào · main不行bùxíng · won’t do急jí · anxious大小dàxiǎo · size黄色huángsè · yellow

FAQs

不同 (bùtóng) means “different” or “distinct”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it bùtóng: bù with a 4th tone, then tóng with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 不同 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type butong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不同 from the suggestions. Typing butong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不同 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 3 word list. It is not on the older 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.