HSK 6 · Verbs

尝试 chángshì “to try” in Chinese

Traditional 嘗試

What 尝试 means

  1. to try
  2. to attempt
  3. to try (to see what it’s like or whether one can do it)

How to say 尝试

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale尝cháng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale试shì4th tone, falling

尝试 in a sentence

  1. 她总是尝试新事物。

    Tā zǒngshì chángshì xīn shìwù.

    She is always trying new things.

    Sentence #1661555 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我所有的尝试都失败了。

    Wǒ suǒyǒu de chángshì dōu shībài le.

    All my attempts have failed.

    Sentence #799282 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 请稍后再尝试。

    Qǐng shāohòu zài chángshì.

    Please try again later.

    Sentence #13248023 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 尝试 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 尝 (cháng) with each of its parts in a different colour
尝chángto taste; to try
  • 尚still · shàngSound part
  • 云cloud · yúnMeaning part

云 hints at the meaning (cloud); 尚 (shàng) hints at the sound. Compare it with cháng.

The character 试 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
试shìto test
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 式formula · shìSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 式 (shì) hints at the sound. Compare it with shì.

How to write 尝试

尝 9 strokes · 试 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 尝试

Words with 尝

尝cháng · to taste品尝pǐncháng · to taste

Words with 试

考试kǎoshì · exam试shì · to try试卷shìjuàn · examination paper试图shìtú · to attempt试验shìyàn · test

More words: Common Verbs

操纵cāozòng · to control搀chān · to support by the arm颤抖chàndǒu · to tremble敞开chǎngkāi · to open wide缠绕chánrào · to wind around超越chāoyuè · to surpass呈现chéngxiàn · to appear陈列chénliè · to display

FAQs

尝试 (chángshì) means “to try” or “to attempt”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it chángshì: cháng with a 2nd tone, then shì 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, 尝试 is written 嘗試. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type changshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 尝试 from the suggestions. Typing changshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
尝试 is an HSK 6 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.