HSK 5 · Verbs

挑战 tiǎozhàn “to challenge” in Chinese

Traditional 挑戰

What 挑战 means

  1. to challenge
  2. to take on a challenge

How to say 挑战

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale挑tiǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale战zhàn4th tone, falling

挑战 in a sentence

  1. 这是一个巨大的挑战。

    Zhè shì yí ge jùdà de tiǎozhàn.

    That’s a huge challenge.

    Sentence #4845054 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 她说她喜欢那个挑战。

    Tā shuō tā xǐhuan nà ge tiǎozhàn.

    She said she enjoyed the challenge.

    Sentence #9400796 from Tatoeba

  3. 准备好迎接挑战吧！

    Zhǔnbèi hǎo yíngjiē tiǎozhàn ba!

    Get ready to face the challenge!

    Sentence #9991979 from Tatoeba

How 挑战 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 挑 (tiǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
挑tiǎoto raise
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 兆omen · zhàoSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 兆 (zhào) hints at the sound. Compare it with tiǎo.

The character 战 (zhàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
战zhànto fight
  • 占to divine · zhānSound part
  • 戈halberd · gēMeaning part

戈 hints at the meaning (halberd); 占 (zhān) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhàn.

How to write 挑战

挑 9 strokes · 战 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 挑战

Words with 挑

挑拨tiǎobō · to stir up trouble挑衅tiǎoxìn · to provoke挑剔tiāoti · fussy

Words with 战

战争zhànzhēng · war战斗zhàndòu · to fight战役zhànyì · battle战略zhànlüè · strategy战术zhànshù · tactics

More words: Common Verbs

提倡tíchàng · to promote体贴tǐtiē · considerate (of other people’s needs)体现tǐxiàn · to embody体验tǐyàn · to experience for oneself统一tǒngyī · to unify吐tǔ · to spit (out)推广tuīguǎng · to promote退tuì · to move back

FAQs

挑战 (tiǎozhàn) means “to challenge” or “to take on a challenge”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it tiǎozhàn: tiǎo with a 3rd tone, then zhàn 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, 挑战 is written 挑戰. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tiaozhan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 挑战 from the suggestions. Typing tiaozhan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
挑战 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.