Useful extra · HSK 2 list

第 dì “ordinal prefix” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 第 means

  1. ordinal prefix
  2. (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六 “sixth”)

How to say 第

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale第dì4th tone, falling

第 in a sentence

  1. 我记得我们第一次见面。

    Wǒ jìde wǒmen dìyī cì jiànmiàn.

    I remember the first time we met.

    Sentence #9543942 from Tatoeba

  2. 我们从第十课开始吧。

    Wǒmen cóng dì shí kè kāishǐ ba.

    Let’s start with Lesson Ten.

    Sentence #1446985 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 今天是第一天。

    Jīntiān shì dìyī tiān.

    Today is the first day.

    Sentence #13203871 from Tatoeba

How 第 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 第 (dì) with each of its parts in a different colour
第dìgrades in which successful candidates in
  • ⺮bamboo form of 竹 · zhú
  • 弟young brother · dì

How to write 第

第 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 第

Words with 第

第一dìyī · first

More words: Useful Extras

这儿zhèr · here那儿nàr · there男人nánrén · man女人nǚrén · woman上面shàngmiàn · above下面xiàmiàn · below左zuǒ · left右yòu · right

FAQs

第 (dì) means “ordinal prefix” or “(prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六 “sixth”)”. It is not on the official HSK lists, but we teach it with HSK 2 because learners need it early.
Say it dì: dì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 第 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type di with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 第 from the suggestions. Typing di into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
第 is not on the official HSK 2.0 word lists. It is a useful extra on our HSK 2 list, because learners need it from the start.

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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.