HSK 6 · Transport

颠簸 diānbǒ “to jolt” in Chinese

Traditional 顛簸

What 颠簸 means

  1. to jolt
  2. to bump
  3. to toss
  4. to be jolted around (car on a bumpy road, boat on a rough sea, aircraft experiencing turbulence)
  5. (fig.) to undergo a rough experience

How to say 颠簸

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale颠diān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale簸bǒ3rd tone, dipping

颠簸 in a sentence

  1. 山路很颠簸，我有点晕车。

    Shānlù hěn diānbǒ, wǒ yǒudiǎn yùnchē.

    The mountain road was very bumpy, and I felt a bit carsick.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 飞机颠簸了一下，大家都吓了一跳。

    Fēijī diānbǒ le yíxià, dàjiā dōu xià le yí tiào.

    The plane jolted, and everyone got a fright.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 颠簸 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 颠 (diān) with each of its parts in a different colour
颠diāntop
  • 真real · zhēnSound part
  • 页page · xiéMeaning part

页 hints at the meaning (page); 真 (zhēn) hints at the sound. Compare it with diān.

The character 簸 (bǒ) with each of its parts in a different colour
簸bǒto winnow; to toss up and down
  • ⺮bamboo form of 竹 · zhúMeaning part
  • 其his · qí
  • 皮skin · píSound part

⺮ hints at the meaning (bamboo); 皮 (pí) hints at the sound. Compare it with bǒ.

How to write 颠簸

颠 16 strokes · 簸 19 strokes

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

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

Words related to 颠簸

Words with 颠

颠倒diāndǎo · to turn upside down

More words: Everyday Things

船舶chuánbó · ships穿越chuānyuè · to pass through导航dǎoháng · navigation登陆dēnglù · to land抵达dǐdá · to arrive动身dòngshēn · to set out港口gǎngkǒu · port观光guānguāng · to go sightseeing

FAQs

颠簸 (diānbǒ) means “to jolt” or “to bump”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it diānbǒ: diān with a 1st tone, then bǒ with a 3rd 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, 颠簸 is written 顛簸. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dianbo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 颠簸 from the suggestions. Typing dianbo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
颠簸 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.