HSK 1 · Directions

下 xià “down” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 下 means

  1. down, below, next
  2. downwards
  3. lower
  4. later
  5. next (week etc)

How to say 下

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale下xià4th tone, falling

下 in a sentence

  1. 桌子下有老鼠。

    Zhuōzi xià yǒu lǎoshǔ.

    There is a mouse under the table.

    Sentence #13971953 from Tatoeba

  2. 下 + time: next (下月, next month)

    他下月会很忙。

    Tā xià yuè huì hěn máng.

    He will be busy next month.

    Sentence #345857 from Tatoeba

  3. 我不知道下一步做什么。

    Wǒ bù zhīdao xià yí bù zuò shénme.

    I don’t know what the next step is.

    Sentence #3636658 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 下 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 下 (xià) with each of its parts in a different colour
下xiàdown
  • 一one · yī
  • 卜divination · bǔ

Memory aidA short stroke below the line: down, below.

How to write 下

下 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 下

Words with 下

下午xiàwǔ · afternoon下雨xiàyǔ · to rain下班xiàbān · to finish work下课xiàkè · to finish class一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly下面xiàmiàn · below下去xiàqù · to go down下来xiàlai · to come down以下yǐxià · below留下liúxia · to leave behind

More words: Places & Directions

饭店fàndiàn · restaurant商店shāngdiàn · shop医院yīyuàn · hospital上shàng · up里lǐ · inside前面qiánmiàn · front后面hòumiàn · back宾馆bīnguǎn · hotel

FAQs

下 (xià) means “down, below, next” or “downwards”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it xià: xià with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 下 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xia with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 下 from the suggestions. Typing xia into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
下 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

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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.