HSK 3 · Adjectives

短 duǎn “short in length” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 短 means

  1. short in length, duration, or height
  2. lack
  3. short
  4. brief
  5. weak point
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • fault

How to say 短

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale短duǎn3rd tone, dipping

短 in a sentence

  1. 她的头发很短。

    Tā de tóufa hěn duǎn.

    Her hair is very short.

    Sentence #687036 from Tatoeba

  2. 兔子有长耳朵和短尾巴。

    Tùzi yǒu cháng ěrduo hé duǎn wěiba.

    Rabbits have long ears and short tails.

    Sentence #503217 from Tatoeba

  3. 他把头发剪短了。

    Tā bǎ tóufa jiǎn duǎn le.

    He’s had his hair cut short.

    Sentence #333115 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 短 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 短 (duǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
短duǎnshort
  • 矢arrow · shǐMeaning part
  • 豆bean · dòuSound part

矢 hints at the meaning (arrow); 豆 (dòu) hints at the sound. Compare it with duǎn.

Memory aidArrows 矢 were once used to measure short lengths. 豆 (dòu) gives the sound: short.

How to write 短

短 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 短

Words with 短

短裤duǎnkù · shorts短信duǎnxìn · text message缩短suōduǎn · to shorten短促duǎncù · brief

More words: Adjectives

矮ǎi · short安静ānjìng · quiet差chà · differ from聪明cōngming · intelligent方便fāngbiàn · convenient干净gānjìng · clean更gèng · more坏huài · bad

FAQs

短 (duǎn) means “short in length, duration, or height” or “lack”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it duǎn: duǎn with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 短 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type duan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 短 from the suggestions. Typing duan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
短 is an HSK 3 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.