HSK 5 · Verbs

发明 fāmíng “to invent” in Chinese

Traditional 發明

What 发明 means

  1. to invent
  2. an invention

Measure word 个 gè · 一个发明 yí ge fāmíng

How to say 发明

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale发fā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale明míng2nd tone, rising

发明 in a sentence

  1. 纸是中国发明的。

    Zhǐ shì Zhōngguó fāmíng de.

    Paper was invented in China.

    Sentence #1315973 from Tatoeba

  2. 你们知道谁发明了火药吗?

    Nǐmen zhīdao shéi fāmíng le huǒyào ma?

    Do you know who invented gunpowder?

    Sentence #9970061 from Tatoeba

  3. 洗衣机是个绝妙的发明。

    Xǐyījī shì ge juémiào de fāmíng.

    The washing machine is a wonderful invention.

    Sentence #351252 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 发明 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 发 (fā) drawn as one shape
发fāto send out

发 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 明 (míng) with each of its parts in a different colour
明míngbright
  • 日sun · rì
  • 月moon · yuè

Memory aidThe light of the sun 日 and the moon 月 together: bright.

How to write 发明

发 5 strokes · 明 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 发明

Words with 发

Words with 明

More words: Common Verbs

FAQs

发明 (fāmíng) means “to invent” or “an invention”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it fāmíng: fā with a 1st tone, then míng 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, 发明 is written 發明. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one to invent is 一个发明 (yí ge fāmíng).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type faming with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 发明 from the suggestions. Typing faming into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
发明 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.