HSK 6 · Adjectives

谦逊 qiānxùn “modest” in Chinese

Traditional 謙遜

What 谦逊 means

  1. modest
  2. humble
  3. unpretentious
  4. modesty

How to say 谦逊

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale谦qiān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale逊xùn4th tone, falling

谦逊 in a sentence

  1. 过度的谦逊就是骄傲。

    Guòdù de qiānxùn jiùshì jiāo'ào.

    Too much modesty is a form of pride.

    Sentence #1468443 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他的谦逊值得尊敬。

    Tā de qiānxùn zhíde zūnjìng.

    His modesty is worth respecting.

    Sentence #6309814 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 那个谦逊的男人跟邻里相处得很好。

    Nà ge qiānxùn de nánrén gēn línlǐ xiāngchǔ de hěn hǎo.

    That modest man gets on well with his neighbours.

    Sentence #1721898 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 谦逊 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 谦 (qiān) with each of its parts in a different colour
谦qiānmodest
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 兼both · jiānSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 兼 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with qiān.

The character 逊 (xùn) with each of its parts in a different colour
逊xùnto abdicate
  • 孙grandchild · sūnSound part
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

辶 hints at the meaning (walking); 孙 (sūn) hints at the sound. Compare it with xùn.

How to write 谦逊

谦 12 strokes · 逊 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 谦逊

Words with 谦

谦虚qiānxū · modest

More words: Adjectives

朴实pǔshí · plain朴素pǔsù · plain恰当qiàdàng · appropriate恰到好处qiàdàohǎochù · just right锲而不舍qiè'érbùshě · to persevere切实qièshí · practical奇妙qímiào · wonderful清澈qīngchè · clear

FAQs

谦逊 (qiānxùn) means “modest” or “humble”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it qiānxùn: qiān with a 1st tone, then xùn with a 4th 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, 谦逊 is written 謙遜. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qianxun with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 谦逊 from the suggestions. Typing qianxun into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
谦逊 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.