HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Places

外国 wàiguó “foreign (country)” in Chinese

Traditional 外國

What 外国 means

  1. foreign (country)

How to say 外国

  • 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 second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale国guó2nd tone, rising

外国 in a sentence

  1. 我想去外国。

    Wǒ xiǎng qù wàiguó.

    I want to go abroad.

    Sentence #382414 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我有很多外国朋友。

    Wǒ yǒu hěn duō wàiguó péngyou.

    I have lots of foreign friends.

    Sentence #583851 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 你有没有去过外国？

    Nǐ yǒu méiyǒu qùguo wàiguó?

    Have you ever been to a foreign country?

    Sentence #403454 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 外国 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 国 (guó) with each of its parts in a different colour
国guócountry; nation; state
  • 囗enclosure · wéi
  • 玉jade · yù

Memory aidTreasure 玉 kept inside a country’s borders 囗.

How to write 外国

外 5 strokes · 国 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 外国

Words with 外

外边wàibian · outside外wài · outside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 国

国guó · country中国Zhōngguó · China出国chūguó · to go abroad国家guójiā · country国际guójì · international国籍guójí · nationality国王guówáng · king国庆节Guóqìngjié · PRC National Day (October 1st)祖国zǔguó · homeland国防guófáng · national defence

More words: Places & Getting Around

路上lùshang · on the road商场shāngchǎng · shopping mall上来shànglái · to come up上去shàngqù · to go up外面wàimiàn · outside网上wǎngshàng · online下去xiàqù · to go down走路zǒulù · to walk

FAQs

外国 (wàiguó) means “foreign (country)”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it wàiguó: wài with a 4th tone, then guó with a 2nd 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, 外国 is written 外國. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type waiguo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 外国 from the suggestions. Typing waiguo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
外国 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 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). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.