HSK 6 · Verbs

缺席 quēxí “to be absent” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 缺席 means

  1. to be absent
  2. absence

How to say 缺席

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale缺quē1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale席xí2nd tone, rising

缺席 in a sentence

  1. 告诉我他为什么缺席了。

    Gàosu wǒ tā wèishénme quēxí le.

    Tell me why he was absent.

    Sentence #816441 from Tatoeba

  2. 没有学生缺席。

    Méiyǒu xuésheng quēxí.

    No students were absent.

    Sentence #885374 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 他的缺席导致了各种谣言的产生。

    Tā de quēxí dǎozhì le gèzhǒng yáoyán de chǎnshēng.

    His absence gave rise to all sorts of rumours.

    Sentence #6101301 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 缺席 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 缺 (quē) with each of its parts in a different colour
缺quēdeficiency
  • 缶jar · fǒuMeaning part
  • 夬decisive · guàiSound part

缶 hints at the meaning (jar); 夬 (guài) hints at the sound. Compare it with quē.

The character 席 (xí) with each of its parts in a different colour
席xíwoven mat
  • 广shelter · guǎng
  • 廿twenty · niàn
  • 巾napkin · jīn

How to write 缺席

缺 10 strokes · 席 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 缺席

Words with 缺

缺少quēshǎo · lack缺点quēdiǎn · weak point缺乏quēfá · to lack缺口quēkǒu · gap缺陷quēxiàn · defect

Words with 席

出席chūxí · to attend主席zhǔxí · chairperson

More words: Common Verbs

企图qǐtú · to attempt全力以赴quánlìyǐfù · to go all out确保quèbǎo · to ensure确立quèlì · to establish屈服qūfú · to yield染rǎn · to dye扰乱rǎoluàn · to disturb惹祸rěhuò · to cause trouble

FAQs

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