HSK 4 · Verbs

坚持 jiānchí “to persevere with” in Chinese

Traditional 堅持

What 坚持 means

  1. to persevere with
  2. to persist in
  3. to insist on

How to say 坚持

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale坚jiān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale持chí2nd tone, rising

坚持 in a sentence

  1. 坚持下来，你就能成功。

    Jiānchí xiàlai, nǐ jiù néng chénggōng.

    Stick with it and you’ll succeed.

    Sentence #6535844 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 没有坚持，就没有成功。

    Méiyǒu jiānchí, jiù méiyǒu chénggōng.

    There’s no success without perseverance.

    Sentence #339494 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 坚持 can also mean “to insist”

    她坚持认为那是我的错。

    Tā jiānchí rènwéi nà shì wǒ de cuò.

    She insisted that it was my fault.

    Sentence #333503 from Tatoeba

How 坚持 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 坚 (jiān) drawn as one shape
坚jiānstrong

坚 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 持 (chí) with each of its parts in a different colour
持chíto hold
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 寺court · sìSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 寺 (sì) hints at the sound. Compare it with chí.

How to write 坚持

坚 7 strokes · 持 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 坚持

Words with 坚

坚决jiānjué · firm坚强jiānqiáng · staunch坚定jiāndìng · firm坚固jiāngù · sturdy坚韧jiānrèn · tough坚实jiānshí · solid坚硬jiānyìng · hard

Words with 持

支持zhīchí · to support保持bǎochí · to keep持续chíxù · to continue主持zhǔchí · to host (a programme or event)维持wéichí · to maintain持久chíjiǔ · lasting

More words: Common Verbs

降落jiàngluò · to descend积累jīlěi · to accumulate继续jìxù · to continue寄jì · to send减肥jiǎnféi · to lose weight减少jiǎnshǎo · to lessen降低jiàngdī · to reduce交jiāo · to hand over

FAQs

坚持 (jiānchí) means “to persevere with” or “to persist in”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it jiānchí: jiān with a 1st tone, then chí 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, 坚持 is written 堅持. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jianchi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 坚持 from the suggestions. Typing jianchi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
坚持 is an HSK 4 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.