HSK 5 · Nature

沙漠 shāmò “desert” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 沙漠 means

  1. desert

Measure word 个 gè · 一个沙漠 yí ge shāmò

How to say 沙漠

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale沙shā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale漠mò4th tone, falling

沙漠 in a sentence

  1. 地球表面的三分之一是沙漠。

    Dìqiú biǎomiàn de sān fēn zhī yī shì shāmò.

    A third of the earth’s surface is desert.

    Sentence #3666900 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 沙漠中有绿洲。

    Shāmò zhōng yǒu lǜzhōu.

    There is an oasis in the desert.

    Sentence #6142325 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 骆驼是沙漠之舟。

    Luòtuo shì shāmò zhī zhōu.

    The camel is the ship of the desert.

    Sentence #418557 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 沙漠 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 沙 (shā) with each of its parts in a different colour
沙shāgranule
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 少few · shǎoSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 少 (shǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with shā.

The character 漠 (mò) with each of its parts in a different colour
漠mòdesert
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 莫cannot · mòSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 莫 (mò) hints at the sound. Compare it with mò.

How to write 沙漠

沙 7 strokes · 漠 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 沙漠

Words with 沙

沙发shāfā · sofa沙滩shātān · beach

More words: Nature & Environment

陆地lùdì · dry land (as opposed to the sea)煤炭méitàn · coal蜜蜂mìfēng · bee能源néngyuán · energy沙滩shātān · beach闪电shǎndiàn · lightning蛇shé · snake生长shēngzhǎng · to grow

FAQs

沙漠 (shāmò) means “desert”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shāmò: shā with a 1st tone, then mò with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 沙漠 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one desert is 一个沙漠 (yí ge shāmò).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shamo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 沙漠 from the suggestions. Typing shamo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
沙漠 is an HSK 5 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.