HSK 6 · Media

相声 xiàngsheng “comic dialogue (crosstalk)” in Chinese

Traditional 相聲

What 相声 means

  1. comic dialogue (crosstalk)
  2. comic dialogue
  3. sketch
  4. crosstalk

How to say 相声

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale相xiàng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own声shengneutral tone, light and short

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

相声 in a sentence

  1. 我很喜欢听相声。

    Wǒ hěn xǐhuan tīng xiàngsheng.

    I really love listening to crosstalk.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他们两个人一起说相声，非常好笑。

    Tāmen liǎng ge rén yìqǐ shuō xiàngsheng, fēicháng hǎoxiào.

    The two of them perform crosstalk together, and it’s hilarious.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 相声 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 相 (xiāng) with each of its parts in a different colour
相xiàngappearance
  • 木tree · mù
  • 目eye · mù

Memory aidAn eye 目 looking at a tree 木: to look at, and so “each other”.

The character 声 (shēng) drawn as one shape
声shēngsoundlight in 相声

声 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidSimplified from 聲, which has an ear 耳 at the bottom: a sound, a voice.

How to write 相声

相 9 strokes · 声 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 相声

Words with 相

相信xiāngxìn · to believe照相zhàoxiàng · to take a photo相机xiàngjī · camera照相机zhàoxiàngjī · camera相反xiāngfǎn · opposite相同xiāngtóng · the same互相hùxiāng · each other相处xiāngchǔ · to get along (with someone)相似xiāngsì · similar相当xiāngdāng · equivalent to

Words with 声

声shēng · sound声音shēngyīn · sound声调shēngdiào · tone (of a syllable)声明shēngmíng · statement声势shēngshì · momentum声誉shēngyù · reputation鸦雀无声yāquèwúshēng · silence reigns

More words: Media & Arts

文物wénwù · cultural relic文艺wényì · literature and the arts舞蹈wǔdǎo · dance武侠wǔxiá · martial arts hero肖像xiàoxiàng · portrait绣xiù · to embroider旋律xuánlǜ · melody悬念xuánniàn · suspense

FAQs

相声 (xiàngsheng) means “comic dialogue (crosstalk)” or “comic dialogue”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it xiàngsheng: xiàng with a 4th tone, then sheng 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, 相声 is written 相聲. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiangsheng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 相声 from the suggestions. Typing xiangsheng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
相声 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.