HSK 6 · Society

斗争 dòuzhēng “struggle” in Chinese

Traditional 鬥爭

What 斗争 means

  1. struggle
  2. to fight
  3. to strive
  4. battle

How to say 斗争

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale斗dòu4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale争zhēng1st tone, high and level

斗争 in a sentence

  1. 这是个很艰难的斗争。

    Zhè shì ge hěn jiānnán de dòuzhēng.

    This is a tough struggle.

    Sentence #9958525 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们在跟时间斗争。

    Wǒmen zài gēn shíjiān dòuzhēng.

    We’re racing against time.

    Sentence #6065715 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我和睡魔作了斗争。

    Wǒ hé shuìmó zuò le dòuzhēng.

    I struggled to stay awake.

    Sentence #10494752 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 斗争 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 斗 (dòu) drawn as one shape
斗dòuto fight

斗 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 争 (zhēng) with each of its parts in a different colour
争zhēngto strive for
  • ⺈knife form of 刀 · dāo
  • 彐snout · jì
  • 亅hook · jué

How to write 斗争

斗 4 strokes · 争 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 斗争

Words with 斗

奋斗fèndòu · to strive泰斗tàidǒu · leading authority搏斗bódòu · to fight战斗zhàndòu · to fight

Words with 争

竞争jìngzhēng · to compete争论zhēnglùn · to argue争取zhēngqǔ · to fight for战争zhànzhēng · war力争lìzhēng · to strive for争夺zhēngduó · to fight over争气zhēngqì · to try hard not to disappoint争端zhēngduān · dispute争议zhēngyì · dispute争先恐后zhēngxiānkǒnghòu · to compete eagerly

More words: Society & Law

抵制dǐzhì · to boycott动荡dòngdàng · turmoil东道主dōngdàozhǔ · host动员dòngyuán · to mobilise赌博dǔbó · to gamble独裁dúcái · dictatorship队伍duìwu · ranks毒品dúpǐn · drugs

FAQs

斗争 (dòuzhēng) means “struggle” or “to fight”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it dòuzhēng: dòu with a 4th tone, then zhēng 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, 斗争 is written 鬥爭. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type douzheng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 斗争 from the suggestions. Typing douzheng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
斗争 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.