HSK 6 · Verbs

堵塞 dǔsè “to block” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 堵塞 means

  1. to block
  2. to clog
  3. blockage
  4. to clog up

How to say 堵塞

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale堵dǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale塞sè4th tone, falling

堵塞 in a sentence

  1. 市中心的交通都堵塞了。

    Shìzhōngxīn de jiāotōng dōu dǔsè le.

    Traffic in the city centre is completely jammed.

    Sentence #801311 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们黎明时起床以避开交通堵塞。

    Wǒmen límíng shí qǐchuáng yǐ bìkāi jiāotōng dǔsè.

    We got up at dawn to avoid the traffic jams.

    Sentence #5670800 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 凡是大城市都有交通堵塞的问题。

    Fánshì dà chéngshì dōu yǒu jiāotōng dǔsè de wèntí.

    All big cities have traffic congestion problems.

    Sentence #10488765 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 堵塞 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 堵 (dǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
堵dǔto block up
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part
  • 者that which · zhěSound part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 者 (zhě) hints at the sound. Compare it with dǔ.

The character 塞 (sè) drawn as one shape
塞sèto block; to obstruct

塞 is a single shape of 13 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 堵塞

堵 11 strokes · 塞 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 堵塞

Words with 堵

堵车dǔchē · traffic jam

Words with 塞

闭塞bìsè · isolated

More words: Common Verbs

堆积duījī · to pile up对抗duìkàng · to resist杜绝dùjué · to put an end to堕落duòluò · to degenerate恶化èhuà · to worsen遏制èzhì · to curb发动fādòng · to start放大fàngdà · to enlarge

FAQs

堵塞 (dǔsè) means “to block” or “to clog”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it dǔsè: dǔ with a 3rd tone, then sè with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 堵塞 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type duse with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 堵塞 from the suggestions. Typing duse into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
堵塞 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.