HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Things

箱子 xiāngzi “box” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 箱子 means

  1. box
  2. case
  3. suitcase
  4. chest
  5. trunk

Measure word 只 zhī or 个 gè · 一只箱子 yì zhī xiāngzi

How to say 箱子

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale箱xiāng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own子zineutral tone, light and short

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

箱子 in a sentence

  1. 请打开箱子。

    Qǐng dǎkāi xiāngzi.

    Please open the box.

    Sentence #432984 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他找到的箱子是空的。

    Tā zhǎodào de xiāngzi shì kōng de.

    The box he found was empty.

    Sentence #452411 from Tatoeba

  3. 我想把箱子留在这里。

    Wǒ xiǎng bǎ xiāngzi liú zài zhèlǐ.

    I’d like to leave the suitcase here.

    Sentence #9415428 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 箱子 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 箱 (xiāng) with each of its parts in a different colour
箱xiāngbox
  • ⺮bamboo form of 竹 · zhúMeaning part
  • 相mutual · xiāngSound part

⺮ hints at the meaning (bamboo); 相 (xiāng) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiāng.

The character 子 (zi) with each of its parts in a different colour
子zinoun suffix, as in 椅子 “chair”
  • 了clear · le
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA baby with its arms out and its legs wrapped up.

How to write 箱子

箱 15 strokes · 子 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 箱子

Words with 箱

冰箱bīngxiāng · refrigerator邮箱yóuxiāng · email inbox行李箱xínglǐxiāng · trunk

Words with 子

儿子érzi · son椅子yǐzi · chair桌子zhuōzi · table杯子bēizi · cup妻子qīzi · wife孩子háizi · child本子běnzi · book子zi · (common noun suffix)裤子kùzi · pants帽子màozi · hat

More words: Things & Objects

纸zhǐ · paper名单míngdān · list of names相机xiàngjī · camera大衣dàyī · overcoat耳机ěrjī · headphones上衣shàngyī · top短裤duǎnkù · shorts洗衣机xǐyījī · washing machine

FAQs

箱子 (xiāngzi) means “box” or “case”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it xiāngzi: xiāng with a 1st tone, then zi with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 箱子 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 只 (zhī) or 个 (gè). For example, one box is 一只箱子 (yì zhī xiāngzi).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiangzi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 箱子 from the suggestions. Typing xiangzi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
箱子 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 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.