HSK 5 · Adjectives

独立 dúlì “independent” in Chinese

Traditional 獨立

What 独立 means

  1. independent
  2. independence
  3. to stand alone

How to say 独立

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale独dú2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale立lì4th tone, falling

独立 in a sentence

  1. 你必须独立完成。

    Nǐ bìxū dúlì wánchéng.

    You have to do it on your own.

    Sentence #9959872 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他是个独立思考者。

    Tā shì ge dúlì sīkǎozhě.

    He is an independent thinker.

    Sentence #4757723 from Tatoeba

  3. 他大学毕业已经十年了，但还没有学会独立生活。

    Tā dàxué bìyè yǐjīng shí nián le, dàn hái méiyǒu xuéhuì dúlì shēnghuó.

    He graduated from university ten years ago, but he still hasn’t learnt to live independently.

    Sentence #373185 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 独立 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 独 (dú) with each of its parts in a different colour
独dúalone
  • 犭dog form of 犬 · quǎnMeaning part
  • 虫insect · chóngSound part

犭 hints at the meaning (dog); 虫 (chóng) hints at the sound. Compare it with dú.

The character 立 (lì) with each of its parts in a different colour
立lìto stand
  • 亠lid · tóu
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 一one · yī

How to write 独立

独 9 strokes · 立 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 独立

Words with 独

独特dútè · unique单独dāndú · alone孤独gūdú · lonely独裁dúcái · dictatorship唯独wéidú · only得天独厚détiāndúhòu · richly endowed by nature

Words with 立

立即lìjí · immediately立刻lìkè · immediately成立chénglì · to establish建立jiànlì · to establish立足lìzú · to gain a foothold确立quèlì · to establish设立shèlì · to set up树立shùlì · to establish孤立gūlì · isolated立体lìtǐ · three-dimensional

More words: Adjectives

平安píng'ān · safe and sound软ruǎn · soft淘气táoqì · naughty调皮tiáopí · naughty独特dútè · unique多余duōyú · superfluous恶劣èliè · vile发达fādá · well-developed

FAQs

独立 (dúlì) means “independent” or “independence”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dúlì: dú with a 2nd tone, then lì 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, 独立 is written 獨立. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type duli with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 独立 from the suggestions. Typing duli into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
独立 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.