HSK 5 · Work

单位 dānwèi “unit (of measurement)” in Chinese

Traditional 單位

What 单位 means

  1. unit (of measurement)
  2. workplace
  3. employer
  4. unit (of measure)
  5. unit (group of people as a whole)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • work unit (place of employment, esp. in the PRC prior to economic reform)

Measure word 个 gè · 一个单位 yí ge dānwèi

How to say 单位

  • 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位wèi4th tone, falling

单位 in a sentence

  1. 在我的单位，我是最年轻的。

    Zài wǒ de dānwèi, wǒ shì zuì niánqīng de.

    I’m the youngest at my workplace.

    Sentence #785378 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 米以公斤为单位来出售。

    Mǐ yǐ gōngjīn wéi dānwèi lái chūshòu.

    Rice is sold by the kilogram.

    Sentence #798202 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 中午十二点左右，到我们单位的饭厅去吃午饭。

    Zhōngwǔ shí'èr diǎn zuǒyòu, dào wǒmen dānwèi de fàntīng qù chī wǔfàn.

    At around midday, we go to our workplace canteen for lunch.

    Sentence #420034 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 单位 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 位 (wèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
位wèiposition
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 立stand · lì

Memory aidA person 亻 standing 立 in their place: a position, a seat.

How to write 单位

单 8 strokes · 位 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 单位

Words with 单

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

Words with 位

位wèi · position座位zuòwèi · seat各位gèwèi · everyone (polite address)位于wèiyú · to be located at位置wèizhi · position地位dìwèi · position诸位zhūwèi · everyone方位fāngwèi · position部位bùwèi · position学位xuéwèi · academic degree

More words: Work & Career

从事cóngshì · to engage in打工dǎgōng · to work a casual or part-time job待遇dàiyù · treatment贷款dàikuǎn · a loan担任dānrèn · to hold (a post)导演dǎoyǎn · director (of a film or play)改革gǎigé · reform工程师gōngchéngshī · engineer

FAQs

单位 (dānwèi) means “unit (of measurement)” or “workplace”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dānwèi: dān with a 1st tone, then wèi 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, 单位 is written 單位. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one unit (of measurement) is 一个单位 (yí ge dānwèi).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type danwei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 单位 from the suggestions. Typing danwei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
单位 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.