HSK 3.0 Level 2 · School

词 cí “word” in Chinese

Traditional 詞

What 词 means

  1. word
  2. statement
  3. speech
  4. lyrics
  5. a form of lyric poetry, flourishing in the Song dynasty 宋朝

How to say 词

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale词cí2nd tone, rising

词 in a sentence

  1. 这个词很难。

    Zhè ge cí hěn nán.

    This word is difficult.

    Sentence #7768200 from Tatoeba

  2. 我的字典里没有这个词。

    Wǒ de zìdiǎn lǐ méiyǒu zhè ge cí.

    This word isn’t in my dictionary.

    Sentence #336699 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 请在词典里查这个词。

    Qǐng zài cídiǎn lǐ chá zhè ge cí.

    Please look up this word in a dictionary.

    Sentence #9953328 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 词 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 词 (cí) with each of its parts in a different colour
词cíword
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 司to take charge of · sīSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 司 (sī) hints at the sound. Compare it with cí.

How to write 词

词 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 词

Words with 词

词典cídiǎn · dictionary词语cíyǔ · words and expressions词汇cíhuì · vocabulary

More words: School & Work

学xué · to learn中学zhōngxué · middle school中学生zhōngxuéshēng · middle-school student本子běnzi · book高中gāozhōng · senior high school开学kāixué · to start a new school term校园xiàoyuán · campus开会kāihuì · to have a meeting

FAQs

词 (cí) means “word” or “statement”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it cí: cí with a 2nd 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, 词 is written 詞. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ci with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 词 from the suggestions. Typing ci into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
词 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older 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.