HSK 5 · Education

声调 shēngdiào “tone (of a syllable)” in Chinese

Traditional 聲調

What 声调 means

  1. tone (of a syllable)
  2. intonation
  3. tone
  4. note
  5. a tone (on a Chinese syllable)

Measure word 个 gè · 一个声调 yí ge shēngdiào

How to say 声调

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale声shēng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale调diào4th tone, falling

声调 in a sentence

  1. 她声调突然变了。

    Tā shēngdiào tūrán biàn le.

    Her tone of voice suddenly changed.

    Sentence #2029452 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 汉语是一个声调语言。

    Hànyǔ shì yí ge shēngdiào yǔyán.

    Chinese is a tonal language.

    Sentence #5683213 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 声调 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 声 (shēng) drawn as one shape
声shēngsound

声 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidSimplified from 聲, which has an ear 耳 at the bottom: a sound, a voice.

The character 调 (tiáo) with each of its parts in a different colour
调diàoto transfer
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 周Zhou dynasty · zhōuSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 周 (zhōu) hints at the sound. Compare it with diào.

How to write 声调

声 7 strokes · 调 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 声调

Words with 声

声shēng · sound声音shēngyīn · sound声明shēngmíng · statement相声xiàngsheng · comic dialogue (crosstalk)声势shēngshì · momentum声誉shēngyù · reputation鸦雀无声yāquèwúshēng · silence reigns

Words with 调

空调kōngtiáo · air conditioning调查diàochá · investigation强调qiángdiào · to emphasise (a statement)调整tiáozhěng · to adjust单调dāndiào · monotonous调皮tiáopí · naughty调料tiáoliào · seasoning调和tiáohé · to reconcile调剂tiáojì · to adjust调节tiáojié · to adjust

More words: Education & Learning

录取lùqǔ · to admit (a student)论文lùnwén · paper目录mùlù · catalogue拼音pīnyīn · pinyin (romanised Chinese)试卷shìjuàn · examination paper提纲tígāng · outline题目tímù · subject文字wénzì · writing

FAQs

声调 (shēngdiào) means “tone (of a syllable)” or “intonation”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shēngdiào: shēng with a 1st tone, then diào 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, 声调 is written 聲調. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one tone (of a syllable) is 一个声调 (yí ge shēngdiào).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shengdiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 声调 from the suggestions. Typing shengdiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
声调 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.