HSK 4 · Verbs

理发 lǐfà “to get a haircut” in Chinese

Traditional 理髮

What 理发 means

  1. to get a haircut
  2. to cut someone’s hair
  3. to have one’s hair done
  4. to cut (sb’s) hair
  5. to give (sb) a haircut

How to say 理发

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale理lǐ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale发fà4th tone, falling

理发 in a sentence

  1. 我今天去理发。

    Wǒ jīntiān qù lǐfà.

    I’m getting a haircut today.

    Sentence #1423337 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你到了该去理发的时候了。

    Nǐ dào le gāi qù lǐfà de shíhou le.

    It’s time you got a haircut.

    Sentence #396111 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我在理发店碰到了他。

    Wǒ zài lǐfàdiàn pèngdào le tā.

    I ran into him at the barber’s.

    Sentence #333790 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 理发 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 理 (lǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
理lǐtexture
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 里village · lǐSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 里 (lǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with lǐ.

Memory aid王 here is jade 玉: cutting jade along its grain. 里 (lǐ) gives the sound: to put in order, reason.

The character 发 (fā) drawn as one shape
发fàhair

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

How to write 理发

理 11 strokes · 发 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 理发

Words with 理

经理jīnglǐ · manager理解lǐjiě · to comprehend理想lǐxiǎng · an ideal修理xiūlǐ · to repair整理zhěnglǐ · to arrange管理guǎnlǐ · to supervise办理bànlǐ · to handle处理chǔlǐ · to handle合理hélǐ · rational心理xīnlǐ · psychology

Words with 发

发fā · send out发烧fāshāo · have a fever头发tóufa · hair on the head发现fāxiàn · discover发生fāshēng · to happen发展fāzhǎn · development出发chūfā · to set off沙发shāfā · sofa发言fāyán · to make a speech启发qǐfā · to inspire

More words: Common Verbs

来不及láibují · not enough time (to do something)来得及láidejí · to have enough time来自láizì · to come from (a place)浪费làngfèi · to waste连lián · even (连…都/也)留liú · to stay免费miǎnfèi · free (of charge)迷路mílù · to lose the way

FAQs

理发 (lǐfà) means “to get a haircut” or “to cut someone’s hair”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it lǐfà: lǐ with a 3rd tone, then fà 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, 理发 is written 理髮. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type lifa with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 理发 from the suggestions. Typing lifa into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
理发 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.