HSK 5 · Verbs

描写 miáoxiě “to describe” in Chinese

Traditional 描寫

What 描写 means

  1. to describe
  2. to depict
  3. to portray
  4. depiction
  5. portrayal

How to say 描写

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale描miáo2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale写xiě3rd tone, dipping

描写 in a sentence

  1. 我打算描写我们的公园和山。

    Wǒ dǎsuàn miáoxiě wǒmen de gōngyuán hé shān.

    I’m going to describe our parks and mountains.

    Sentence #349556 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 描写 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 描 (miáo) with each of its parts in a different colour
描miáoto depict
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 苗sprouts · miáoSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 苗 (miáo) hints at the sound. Compare it with miáo.

The character 写 (xiě) with each of its parts in a different colour
写xiěto write
  • 冖cover · mì
  • 与and · yǔ

How to write 描写

描 11 strokes · 写 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 描写

Words with 描

描绘miáohuì · to depict

Words with 写

写xiě · to write写作xiězuò · writing

More words: Thinking & Talking

夸kuā · to praise骂mà · to scold满足mǎnzú · to satisfy秘密mìmì · secret明确míngquè · clear盼望pànwàng · to hope for评价píngjià · to evaluate启发qǐfā · to inspire

FAQs

描写 (miáoxiě) means “to describe” or “to depict”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it miáoxiě: miáo with a 2nd tone, then xiě with a 3rd 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, 描写 is written 描寫. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type miaoxie with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 描写 from the suggestions. Typing miaoxie into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
描写 is an HSK 5 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.