HSK 4 · Verbs

当 dāng “to act as” in Chinese

Traditional 當

What 当 means

  1. to act as
  2. to serve as
  3. to work as
  4. to be
  5. manage
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • withstand
  • when
  • during

How to say 当

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale当dāng1st tone, high and level

当 in a sentence

  1. 我决定当个工程师。

    Wǒ juédìng dāng ge gōngchéngshī.

    I’ve decided to become an engineer.

    Sentence #9965667 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他不适合当老师。

    Tā bú shìhé dāng lǎoshī.

    He isn’t suited to being a teacher.

    Sentence #1450537 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我想当医生。

    Wǒ xiǎng dāng yīshēng.

    I want to be a doctor.

    Sentence #10227809 from Tatoeba

How 当 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 当 (dāng) with each of its parts in a different colour
当dāngdong
  • ⺌small form of 小 · xiǎo
  • 彐snout · jì

How to write 当

当 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 当

Words with 当

当然dāngrán · of course当时dāngshí · then当地dāngdì · local当心dāngxīn · to be careful上当shàngdàng · to be fooled相当xiāngdāng · equivalent to当场dāngchǎng · on the spot当初dāngchū · originally当代dāngdài · contemporary当前dāngqián · current

More words: Common Verbs

打印dǎyìn · to print (with a printer)打折dǎzhé · to give a discount打针dǎzhēn · to give or have an injection戴dài · to wear (glasses调查diàochá · investigation掉diào · to fall丢diū · to lose堵车dǔchē · traffic jam

FAQs

当 (dāng) means “to act as” or “to serve as”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it dāng: dāng with a 1st 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, 当 is written 當. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 当 from the suggestions. Typing dang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
当 is an HSK 4 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.