HSK 3.0 Level 4 · Speaking

加油 jiāyóu “to cheer on” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 加油 means

  1. to cheer on
  2. go for it
  3. to add oil
  4. to top up with gas
  5. to refuel
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to accelerate
  • to step on the gas
  • (fig.) to make an extra effort
  • to cheer sb on

How to say 加油

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale加jiā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale油yóu2nd tone, rising

加油 in a sentence

  1. 考试加油！

    Kǎoshì jiāyóu!

    Good luck in your exam!

    Sentence #4885094 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 虽然明天好像会下雨，但我会加油的。

    Suīrán míngtiān hǎoxiàng huì xiàyǔ, dàn wǒ huì jiāyóu de.

    It looks like it’ll rain tomorrow, but I’ll still do my best.

    Sentence #8682684 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 加油 can also mean “to refuel”, as in 加油站 “petrol station”

    我们在下个加油站停一下。

    Wǒmen zài xià ge jiāyóuzhàn tíng yíxià.

    Let’s stop at the next petrol station.

    Sentence #333010 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 加油 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 加 (jiā) with each of its parts in a different colour
加jiāto add
  • 力strength · lì
  • 口mouth · kǒu

Memory aidStrength 力 added to words 口: to add.

The character 油 (yóu) with each of its parts in a different colour
油yóuoil
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 由cause · yóuSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 由 (yóu) hints at the sound. Compare it with yóu.

How to write 加油

加 5 strokes · 油 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 加油

Words with 加

加jiā · to add参加cānjiā · participate增加zēngjiā · to raise加班jiābān · to work overtime加入jiārù · to join更加gèngjiā · even more加油站jiāyóuzhàn · petrol station加剧jiājù · to intensify施加shījiā · to exert加工jiāgōng · to process

Words with 油

油yóu · oil加油站jiāyóuzhàn · petrol station酱油jiàngyóu · soy sauce油炸yóuzhá · to deep fry汽油qìyóu · petrol油腻yóunì · greasy石油shíyóu · oil柴油cháiyóu · diesel油漆yóuqī · paint

More words: Speaking & Communication

听说tīngshuō · to hear (it said that)邮件yóujiàn · mail邮箱yóuxiāng · email inbox外语wàiyǔ · foreign language聊天儿liáotiānr · to chat提出tíchū · to put forward晚安wǎn'ān · good night祝zhù · to wish (someone well)

FAQs

加油 (jiāyóu) means “to cheer on” or “go for it”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word.
Say it jiāyóu: jiā with a 1st tone, then yóu with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 加油 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jiayou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 加油 from the suggestions. Typing jiayou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
加油 is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 3 word list. It is not on the older 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.