HSK 6 · Adjectives

勉强 miǎnqiǎng “reluctantly” in Chinese

Said as miánqiǎng

Traditional 勉強

What 勉强 means

  1. reluctantly
  2. to force
  3. barely enough
  4. to do with difficulty
  5. to force sb to do sth
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • reluctant

How to say 勉强

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale勉miǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale强qiǎng3rd tone, dipping

Said as miánqiǎng. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

勉强 in a sentence

  1. 他勉强同意了我的建议。

    Tā miǎnqiǎng tóngyì le wǒ de jiànyì.

    He reluctantly agreed to my proposal.

    Sentence #848546 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 他勉强地通过了考试。

    Tā miǎnqiǎng de tōngguò le kǎoshì.

    He barely passed the examination.

    Sentence #834311 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 火车马上就要开，我们勉强可以赶到。

    Huǒchē mǎshàng jiùyào kāi, wǒmen miǎnqiǎng kěyǐ gǎndào.

    The train is about to leave; we can only just make it.

    Sentence #421130 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 勉强 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 勉 (miǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
勉miǎnto exhort
  • 免to spare · miǎnSound part
  • 力strength · lìMeaning part

力 hints at the meaning (strength); 免 (miǎn) hints at the sound. Compare it with miǎn.

The character 强 (qiáng) with each of its parts in a different colour
强qiǎngto force
  • 弓bow · gōngMeaning part
  • 虽although · suī

弓 hints at the meaning (bow); 虫 (chóng) hints at the sound. Compare it with qiǎng.

How to write 勉强

勉 9 strokes · 强 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 勉强

Words with 勉

勉励miǎnlì · to encourage

Words with 强

强qiáng · strong强调qiángdiào · to emphasise (a statement)坚强jiānqiáng · staunch强烈qiángliè · strong强迫qiǎngpò · to force倔强juéjiàng · stubborn顽强wánqiáng · tenacious强制qiángzhì · compulsory

More words: Adjectives

美观měiguān · attractive美满měimǎn · happy美妙měimiào · wonderful猛烈měngliè · fierce渺小miǎoxiǎo · tiny名副其实míngfùqíshí · worthy of the name明智míngzhì · wise敏捷mǐnjié · quick

FAQs

勉强 (miǎnqiǎng) means “reluctantly” or “to force”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it miǎnqiǎng: miǎn with a 3rd tone, then qiǎng with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like miánqiǎng. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. 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, 勉强 is written 勉強. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mianqiang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 勉强 from the suggestions. Typing mianqiang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
勉强 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.