HSK 6 · Time

顿时 dùnshí “immediately” in Chinese

Traditional 頓時

What 顿时 means

  1. immediately
  2. suddenly
  3. at once

How to say 顿时

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale顿dùn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale时shí2nd tone, rising

顿时 in a sentence

  1. 她的脸顿时红了。

    Tā de liǎn dùnshí hóng le.

    Her face instantly went red.

    Sentence #1990257 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 顿时 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 顿 (dùn) with each of its parts in a different colour
顿dùnto stop
  • 屯village · túnSound part
  • 页page · xiéMeaning part

页 hints at the meaning (page); 屯 (tún) hints at the sound. Compare it with dùn.

The character 时 (shí) with each of its parts in a different colour
时shío’clock
  • 日sun · rìMeaning part
  • 寸inch · cùn

Memory aidThe sun 日 marks the time of day. In the full form 時, 寺 (sì) gave the sound.

How to write 顿时

顿 10 strokes · 时 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 顿时

Words with 顿

顿dùn · measure word for meals停顿tíngdùn · to pause整顿zhěngdùn · to rectify

Words with 时

时候shíhou · time时shí · o’clock小时xiǎoshí · hour时间shíjiān · time有时yǒushí · sometimes小时候xiǎoshíhou · in one’s childhood当时dāngshí · then平时píngshí · ordinarily同时tóngshí · at the same time暂时zànshí · temporary

More words: Time & Sequence

当前dāngqián · current丁dīng · fourth (in a series)定期dìngqī · regular端午节Duānwǔjié · Dragon Boat Festival黄昏huánghūn · dusk间隔jiàngé · interval季度jìdù · quarter (of a year)截至jiézhì · up to

FAQs

顿时 (dùnshí) means “immediately” or “suddenly”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it dùnshí: dùn with a 4th tone, then shí with a 2nd 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, 顿时 is written 頓時. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dunshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 顿时 from the suggestions. Typing dunshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
顿时 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.