HSK 6 · Verbs

归还 guīhuán “to return (something)” in Chinese

Traditional 歸還

What 归还 means

  1. to return (something)
  2. to give back
  3. to return sth
  4. to revert

How to say 归还

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale归guī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale还huán2nd tone, rising

归还 in a sentence

  1. 请你在阅读完毕后归还此书。

    Qǐng nǐ zài yuèdú wánbì hòu guīhuán cǐ shū.

    Please return the book when you’ve finished reading it.

    Sentence #9952204 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 归还 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 归 (guī) drawn as one shape
归guīto return

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

The character 还 (hái) with each of its parts in a different colour
还huánto pay back
  • 不no · bù
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuò

Memory aidWalk 辶 back again: to return (huán). Read hái, it means “still”.

How to write 归还

归 5 strokes · 还 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 归还

Words with 归

归纳guīnà · to sum up归根到底guīgēndàodǐ · in the final analysis

Words with 还

还hái · still还是háishi · or讨价还价tǎojiàhuánjià · to bargain还原huányuán · to restore偿还chánghuán · to repay

More words: Common Verbs

攻克gōngkè · to capture贯彻guànchè · to implement关照guānzhào · to look after跪guì · to kneel过滤guòlǜ · to filter捍卫hànwèi · to defend合并hébìng · to merge划分huàfēn · to divide

FAQs

归还 (guīhuán) means “to return (something)” or “to give back”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it guīhuán: guī with a 1st tone, then huán 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, 归还 is written 歸還. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guihuan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 归还 from the suggestions. Typing guihuan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
归还 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.