HSK 6 · Objects

生锈 shēngxiù “to rust” in Chinese

Traditional 生鏽

What 生锈 means

  1. to rust
  2. to get rusty
  3. (of metal) to rust
  4. to become rusty
  5. (fig.) (of a skill etc) to get rusty
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to deteriorate

How to say 生锈

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale生shēng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale锈xiù4th tone, falling

生锈 in a sentence

  1. 你的刀生锈了。

    Nǐ de dāo shēngxiù le.

    Your knife has rusted.

    Sentence #12120003 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 如果你把自行车留在雨中,它会生锈的。

    Rúguǒ nǐ bǎ zìxíngchē liú zài yǔ zhōng, tā huì shēngxiù de.

    Your bike will rust if you leave it out in the rain.

    Sentence #830394 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 生锈 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 生 (shēng) drawn as one shape
生shēngto grow; to give birth; to produce

生 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA shoot growing up out of the soil 土: to grow, to be born.

The character 锈 (xiù) with each of its parts in a different colour
锈xiùto rust
  • 钅gold form of 金 · jīnMeaning part
  • 秀elegant · xiùSound part

钅 hints at the meaning (gold); 秀 (xiù) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiù.

How to write 生锈

生 5 strokes · 锈 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 生锈

Words with 生

More words: Objects & Materials

FAQs

生锈 (shēngxiù) means “to rust” or “to get rusty”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shēngxiù: shēng with a 1st tone, then xiù 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, 生锈 is written 生鏽. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shengxiu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 生锈 from the suggestions. Typing shengxiu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
生锈 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.