HSK 6 · Verbs

伺候 cìhou “to serve” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 伺候 means

  1. to serve
  2. to wait on
  3. to look after
  4. to wait upon

How to say 伺候

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale伺cì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own候houneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

伺候 in a sentence

  1. 她在家伺候生病的妈妈。

    Tā zài jiā cìhou shēngbìng de māma.

    She’s at home looking after her sick mum.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这孩子真难伺候。

    Zhè háizi zhēn nán cìhou.

    This child is really hard to please.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 伺候 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 伺 (cì) with each of its parts in a different colour
伺cì
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 司to take charge of · sīSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 司 (sī) hints at the sound. Compare it with cì.

The character 候 (hòu) with each of its parts in a different colour
候hòuto waitlight in 伺候
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 矦target in archery · hóuSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 矦 (hóu) hints at the sound. Compare it with hou.

How to write 伺候

伺 7 strokes · 候 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 伺候

Words with 候

时候shíhou · time小时候xiǎoshíhou · in one’s childhood气候qìhòu · climate问候wènhòu · to give one’s respects等候děnghòu · to wait候选hòuxuǎn · candidate

More words: Common Verbs

储存chǔcún · to store出卖chūmài · to betray处置chǔzhì · to deal with刺cì · thorn凑合còuhe · to make do窜cuàn · to flee摧残cuīcán · to ruin搓cuō · to rub (between the hands)

FAQs

伺候 (cìhou) means “to serve” or “to wait on”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it cìhou: cì with a 4th tone, then hou with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 伺候 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type cihou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 伺候 from the suggestions. Typing cihou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
伺候 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.