HSK 6 · Verbs

拖延 tuōyán “to delay” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 拖延 means

  1. to delay
  2. to put off
  3. to procrastinate

How to say 拖延

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale拖tuō1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale延yán2nd tone, rising

拖延 in a sentence

  1. 我不像我以前那么拖延了。

    Wǒ bú xiàng wǒ yǐqián nàme tuōyán le.

    I don’t procrastinate as much as I used to.

    Sentence #8792021 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 拖延是时间小偷。

    Tuōyán shì shíjiān xiǎotōu.

    Procrastination is the thief of time.

    Sentence #8821376 from Tatoeba

  3. 不要拖延去找工作的事。

    Búyào tuōyán qù zhǎo gōngzuò de shì.

    Stop putting off looking for a job.

    Sentence #798310 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 拖延 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 拖 (tuō) with each of its parts in a different colour
拖tuōto drag
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 也also · yě
The character 延 (yán) with each of its parts in a different colour
延yánto prolong
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 㢟to walk slowly

How to write 拖延

拖 8 strokes · 延 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 拖延

Words with 延

延长yáncháng · to prolong延期yánqī · to postpone延续yánxù · to continue蔓延mànyán · to spread延伸yánshēn · to extend

More words: Common Verbs

停顿tíngdùn · to pause推翻tuīfān · to overthrow涂抹túmǒ · to smear脱离tuōlí · to break away from瓦解wǎjiě · to collapse挖掘wājué · to dig完毕wánbì · to finish挽回wǎnhuí · to retrieve

FAQs

拖延 (tuōyán) means “to delay” or “to put off”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it tuōyán: tuō with a 1st tone, then yán with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 拖延 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tuoyan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 拖延 from the suggestions. Typing tuoyan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
拖延 is an HSK 6 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.