HSK 5 · Adjectives

单调 dāndiào “monotonous” in Chinese

Traditional 單調

What 单调 means

  1. monotonous

How to say 单调

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale单dān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale调diào4th tone, falling

单调 in a sentence

  1. 我厌倦了现在单调的生活。

    Wǒ yànjuàn le xiànzài dāndiào de shēnghuó.

    I’m tired of the monotonous life I’m living now.

    Sentence #1941105 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 单调 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 单 (dān) drawn as one shape
单dānbill

单 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 调 (tiáo) with each of its parts in a different colour
调diàoto transfer
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 周Zhou dynasty · zhōuSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 周 (zhōu) hints at the sound. Compare it with diào.

How to write 单调

单 8 strokes · 调 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 单调

Words with 单

菜单càidān · menu简单jiǎndān · simple名单míngdān · list of names单纯dānchún · simple单位dānwèi · unit (of measurement)单元dānyuán · unit (forming an entity)单独dāndú · alone传单chuándān · leaflet床单chuángdān · bed sheet

Words with 调

空调kōngtiáo · air conditioning调查diàochá · investigation强调qiángdiào · to emphasise (a statement)调整tiáozhěng · to adjust调皮tiáopí · naughty声调shēngdiào · tone (of a syllable)调料tiáoliào · seasoning调和tiáohé · to reconcile调剂tiáojì · to adjust调节tiáojié · to adjust

More words: Adjectives

大方dàfang · generous大型dàxíng · large呆dāi · foolish单纯dānchún · simple淡dàn · light (in taste or colour)地道dìdao · authentic干燥gānzào · dry (weather高级gāojí · high level

FAQs

单调 (dāndiào) means “monotonous”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dāndiào: dān with a 1st tone, then diào 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, 单调 is written 單調. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dandiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 单调 from the suggestions. Typing dandiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
单调 is an HSK 5 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.