HSK 6 · Verbs

拼命 pīnmìng “desperately” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 拼命 means

  1. desperately
  2. with all one’s might
  3. to risk one’s life
  4. to do one’s utmost
  5. at all costs
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • (to work or fight) as if one’s life depends on it

How to say 拼命

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale拼pīn1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale命mìng4th tone, falling

拼命 in a sentence

  1. 这么拼命工作有什么意义？

    Zhème pīnmìng gōngzuò yǒu shénme yìyì?

    What’s the point of working so hard?

    Sentence #1883656 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我拼命地跑。

    Wǒ pīnmìng de pǎo.

    I ran as fast as I could.

    Sentence #358290 from Tatoeba

  3. 可能你工作得太拼命？

    Kěnéng nǐ gōngzuò de tài pīnmìng?

    Maybe you’re working too hard?

    Sentence #604938 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 拼命 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 拼 (pīn) with each of its parts in a different colour
拼pīnto piece together; to put together
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 并to combine · bìngSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 并 (bìng) hints at the sound. Compare it with pīn.

The character 命 (mìng) with each of its parts in a different colour
命mìnglife
  • 令command · líng
  • 口mouth · kǒu

How to write 拼命

拼 9 strokes · 命 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 拼命

Words with 拼

拼音pīnyīn · pinyin (romanised Chinese)拼搏pīnbó · to struggle hard

Words with 命

生命shēngmìng · life寿命shòumìng · life span命令mìnglìng · order命运mìngyùn · fate性命xìngmìng · life (of a person or animal)命名mìngmíng · to name任命rènmìng · to appoint革命gémìng · revolution使命shǐmìng · mission要命yàomìng · terribly

More words: Common Verbs

劈pī · to split漂浮piāofú · to float飘扬piāoyáng · to flutter拼搏pīnbó · to struggle hard泼pō · to splash破例pòlì · to make an exception扑pū · to pounce on铺pū · to spread

FAQs

拼命 (pīnmìng) means “desperately” or “with all one’s might”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it pīnmìng: pīn with a 1st tone, then mìng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 拼命 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type pinming with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 拼命 from the suggestions. Typing pinming into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
拼命 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.