HSK 6 · Verbs

漂浮 piāofú “to float” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 漂浮 means

  1. to float
  2. to drift
  3. superficial
  4. to hover
  5. to drift (also fig., to lead a wandering life)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to rove
  • showy

How to say 漂浮

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale漂piāo1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale浮fú2nd tone, rising

漂浮 in a sentence

  1. 木头会漂浮。

    Mùtou huì piāofú.

    Wood floats.

    Sentence #5102316 from Tatoeba

  2. 油漂浮在水上。

    Yóu piāofú zài shuǐshàng.

    Oil floats on water.

    Sentence #10696011 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 海水看起来一片碧绿，巨大的冰山漂浮在周围。

    Hǎishuǐ kàn qǐlai yí piàn bìlǜ, jùdà de bīngshān piāofú zài zhōuwéi.

    The sea looked a deep green, and huge icebergs floated all around.

    Sentence #13539402 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 漂浮 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 漂 (piào) with each of its parts in a different colour
漂piāoto float
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 票bank note · piàoSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 票 (piào) hints at the sound. Compare it with piāo.

The character 浮 (fú) with each of its parts in a different colour
浮fúto float
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 孚part of the characterSound part

How to write 漂浮

漂 14 strokes · 浮 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 漂浮

Words with 漂

漂亮piàoliang · beautiful

More words: Common Verbs

配备pèibèi · to equip培育péiyù · to cultivate捧pěng · to hold with both hands劈pī · to split飘扬piāoyáng · to flutter拼搏pīnbó · to struggle hard拼命pīnmìng · desperately泼pō · to splash

FAQs

漂浮 (piāofú) means “to float” or “to drift”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it piāofú: piāo with a 1st tone, then fú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 漂浮 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type piaofu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 漂浮 from the suggestions. Typing piaofu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
漂浮 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.