HSK 3.0 Level 1 · Places

外边 wàibian “outside” in Chinese

Traditional 外邊

What 外边 means

  1. outside
  2. outer surface
  3. abroad
  4. place other than one’s home

How to say 外边

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale外wài4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own边bianneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

外边 in a sentence

  1. 外边风刮得很大。

    Wàibian fēng guā de hěn dà.

    The wind is blowing hard outside.

    Sentence #1216057 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 学友来看林老师的时候，外边正下着雨呢。

    Xuéyǒu lái kàn Lín lǎoshī de shíhou, wàibian zhèng xià zhe yǔ ne.

    When Xueyou came to see Teacher Lin, it was raining outside.

    Sentence #1567783 from Tatoeba

  3. 外边很冷，多穿点儿衣服。

    Wàibian hěn lěng, duō chuān diǎnr yīfu.

    It’s cold outside, so put on some more clothes.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 外边 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 外 (wài) with each of its parts in a different colour
外wàioutside
  • 夕evening · xī
  • 卜divination · bǔ

Memory aidEvening 夕 beside a divination crack 卜. Picture fortune-telling done at night, out of doors: outside.

The character 边 (biān) with each of its parts in a different colour
边biansuffix of a noun of locality
  • 力strength · lì
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

Memory aidWalk 辶 with all your strength 力 to reach the edge: side, edge.

How to write 外边

外 5 strokes · 边 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 外边

Words with 外

外wài · outside外国wàiguó · foreign (country)外面wàimiàn · outside外卖wàimài · takeaway (food)外地wàidì · another part of the country外语wàiyǔ · foreign language以外yǐwài · apart from另外lìngwài · additional外公wàigōng · grandpa (mother’s father)意外yìwài · unexpected

Words with 边

边biān · side那边nàbian · over there这边zhèbiān · this side旁边pángbiān · side右边yòubian · right side左边zuǒbian · left side一边yìbiān · one side身边shēnbiān · at one’s side路边lùbiān · roadside边疆biānjiāng · border region

More words: Places & Getting Around

那边nàbian · over there那里nàli · there前qián · front书店shūdiàn · bookstore这边zhèbiān · this side这里zhèlǐ · here车站chēzhàn · rail station出国chūguó · to go abroad

FAQs

外边 (wàibian) means “outside” or “outer surface”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it wàibian: wài with a 4th tone, then bian with a neutral 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, 外边 is written 外邊. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type waibian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 外边 from the suggestions. Typing waibian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
外边 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 word list. It is not on the older 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). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.