HSK 6 · Verbs

徘徊 páihuái “to pace back and forth” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 徘徊 means

  1. to pace back and forth
  2. to hesitate
  3. to dither
  4. (of sales figures etc) to fluctuate

How to say 徘徊

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale徘pái2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale徊huái2nd tone, rising

徘徊 in a sentence

  1. 他在门口徘徊了很久，不敢进去。

    Tā zài ménkǒu páihuái le hěn jiǔ, bù gǎn jìnqù.

    He paced back and forth at the door for a long time, not daring to go in.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 最近气温一直在二十度左右徘徊。

    Zuìjìn qìwēn yìzhí zài èrshí dù zuǒyòu páihuái.

    Lately the temperature has been hovering around twenty degrees.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 徘徊 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 徘 (pái) with each of its parts in a different colour
徘pái
  • 彳step · chìMeaning part
  • 非wrong · fēiSound part

彳 hints at the meaning (step); 非 (fēi) hints at the sound. Compare it with pái.

The character 徊 (huái) with each of its parts in a different colour
徊huái
  • 彳step · chì
  • 回to return · huí

How to write 徘徊

徘 11 strokes · 徊 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 徘徊

More words: Common Verbs

挪nuó · to move趴pā · to lie face down排斥páichì · to exclude排除páichú · to rule out盘旋pánxuán · to circle抛弃pāoqì · to abandon配备pèibèi · to equip培育péiyù · to cultivate

FAQs

徘徊 (páihuái) means “to pace back and forth” or “to hesitate”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it páihuái: pái with a 2nd tone, then huái with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 徘徊 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type paihuai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 徘徊 from the suggestions. Typing paihuai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
徘徊 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.