HSK 5 · Work

失业 shīyè “unemployment” in Chinese

Traditional 失業

What 失业 means

  1. unemployment
  2. to lose one’s job

How to say 失业

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale失shī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale业yè4th tone, falling

失业 in a sentence

  1. 他失业了。

    Tā shīyè le.

    He’s lost his job.

    Sentence #2390150 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 讨论的重点是失业问题。

    Tǎolùn de zhòngdiǎn shì shīyè wèntí.

    The discussion focused on unemployment.

    Sentence #344245 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 目前的失业率是多少？

    Mùqián de shīyè lǜ shì duōshǎo?

    What is the unemployment rate at the moment?

    Sentence #616617 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 失业 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 失 (shī) with each of its parts in a different colour
失shīto lose
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 夫man · fū
The character 业 (yè) drawn as one shape
业yèline of business

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

How to write 失业

失 5 strokes · 业 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 失业

Words with 失

失败shībài · to fail失望shīwàng · disappointed失眠shīmián · to suffer from insomnia失去shīqù · to lose消失xiāoshī · to disappear损失sǔnshī · loss丧失sàngshī · to lose遗失yíshī · to lose (something)失踪shīzōng · to go missing失事shīshì · (of a plane or ship) to crash

Words with 业

作业zuòyè · school assignment毕业bìyè · graduation专业zhuānyè · major (at university)职业zhíyè · occupation业余yèyú · spare-time工业gōngyè · industry农业nóngyè · agriculture企业qǐyè · company商业shāngyè · business行业hángyè · trade

More words: Work & Career

人员rényuán · staff日程rìchéng · schedule商业shāngyè · business设计shèjì · to design实习shíxí · to do an internship收据shōujù · receipt退休tuìxiū · to retire (from the workforce)文件wénjiàn · document

FAQs

失业 (shīyè) means “unemployment” or “to lose one’s job”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shīyè: shī with a 1st tone, then yè 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, 失业 is written 失業. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shiye with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 失业 from the suggestions. Typing shiye into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
失业 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.