HSK 5 · Verbs

奋斗 fèndòu “to strive” in Chinese

Traditional 奮鬥

What 奋斗 means

  1. to strive
  2. to struggle

How to say 奋斗

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale奋fèn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale斗dòu4th tone, falling

奋斗 in a sentence

  1. 我为我家人奋斗。

    Wǒ wèi wǒ jiārén fèndòu.

    I work hard for my family.

    Sentence #5144741 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我得奋斗。

    Wǒ děi fèndòu.

    I have to keep striving.

    Sentence #4263359 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 生命是一份礼物，你需要为此奋斗。

    Shēngmìng shì yí fèn lǐwù, nǐ xūyào wèicǐ fèndòu.

    Life is a gift, and you have to strive for it.

    Sentence #13712903 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 奋斗 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 奋 (fèn) with each of its parts in a different colour
奋fènto exert oneself
  • 大big · dà
  • 田field · tián
The character 斗 (dòu) drawn as one shape
斗dòuto fight

斗 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 奋斗

奋 8 strokes · 斗 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 奋斗

Words with 奋

兴奋xīngfèn · excited勤奋qínfèn · hardworking振奋zhènfèn · to inspire

Words with 斗

泰斗tàidǒu · leading authority搏斗bódòu · to fight斗争dòuzhēng · struggle战斗zhàndòu · to fight

More words: Common Verbs

反应fǎnyìng · to react妨碍fáng'ài · to hinder分布fēnbù · to be distributed (over an area)分配fēnpèi · to distribute扶fú · to hold up改进gǎijìn · to improve改善gǎishàn · to make better改正gǎizhèng · to correct

FAQs

奋斗 (fèndòu) means “to strive” or “to struggle”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it fèndòu: fèn with a 4th tone, then dòu 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, 奋斗 is written 奮鬥. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type fendou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 奋斗 from the suggestions. Typing fendou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
奋斗 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.