HSK 5 · Nature

闪电 shǎndiàn “lightning” in Chinese

Traditional 閃電

What 闪电 means

  1. lightning

Measure word 道 dào · 一道闪电 yí dào shǎndiàn

How to say 闪电

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale闪shǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale电diàn4th tone, falling

闪电 in a sentence

  1. 闪电照亮了天空。

    Shǎndiàn zhàoliàng le tiānkōng.

    The lightning lit up the sky.

    Sentence #9955853 from Tatoeba

  2. 我被闪电吓到了。

    Wǒ bèi shǎndiàn xià dào le.

    I was scared by the lightning.

    Sentence #757553 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 一道闪电划破天空。

    Yídào shǎndiàn huápò tiānkōng.

    A flash of lightning split the sky.

    Sentence #813507 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 闪电 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 闪 (shǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
闪shǎnto dodge
  • 门gate · mén
  • 人person · rén
The character 电 (diàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
电diànlightning
  • 曰say · yuē
  • 乚second (cyclical) form of 乙 · yǐ

Memory aidSimplified from 電: lightning under the rain 雨: electricity.

How to write 闪电

闪 5 strokes · 电 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 闪电

Words with 闪

闪烁shǎnshuò · to twinkle

Words with 电

电脑diànnǎo · computer电视diànshì · television电影diànyǐng · movie电话diànhuà · telephone打电话dǎ diànhuà · to make a phone call电影院diànyǐngyuàn · cinema电diàn · electricity电梯diàntī · lift电子书diànzǐshū · e-book电子邮件diànzǐ yóujiàn · email

More words: Nature & Environment

蜜蜂mìfēng · bee能源néngyuán · energy沙漠shāmò · desert沙滩shātān · beach蛇shé · snake生长shēngzhǎng · to grow石头shítou · stone狮子shīzi · lion

FAQs

闪电 (shǎndiàn) means “lightning”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shǎndiàn: shǎn with a 3rd tone, then diàn 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, 闪电 is written 閃電. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 道 (dào). For example, one lightning is 一道闪电 (yí dào shǎndiàn).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shandian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 闪电 from the suggestions. Typing shandian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
闪电 is an HSK 5 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.