HSK 5 · Body

消化 xiāohuà “to digest (food or information)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 消化 means

  1. to digest (food or information)
  2. to digest (food)
  3. (fig.) to absorb (information etc)
  4. to assimilate
  5. to process

How to say 消化

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale消xiāo1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale化huà4th tone, falling

消化 in a sentence

  1. 不要因为吃得太多而扰乱胃的正常消化。

    Bú yào yīnwèi chī de tài duō ér rǎoluàn wèi de zhèngcháng xiāohuà.

    Don’t upset your normal digestion by eating too much.

    Sentence #3580020 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你吃不喜欢的食物会消化不良。

    Nǐ chī bù xǐhuan de shíwù huì xiāohuà bùliáng.

    If you eat food you don’t like, you’ll get indigestion.

    Sentence #777677 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 消化 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 消 (xiāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
消xiāoto diminish; to subside
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 肖to resemble · xiàoSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 肖 (xiào) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiāo.

The character 化 (huà) with each of its parts in a different colour
化huàto make into
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 匕spoon · bǐ

Memory aidA person 亻 next to a person turned upside down 匕: to change, to transform.

How to write 消化

消 10 strokes · 化 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 消化

Words with 消

消息xiāoxi · news取消qǔxiāo · to cancel消失xiāoshī · to disappear消极xiāojí · negative消费xiāofèi · to consume消毒xiāodú · to disinfect消除xiāochú · to eliminate消耗xiāohào · to consume消灭xiāomiè · to wipe out消防xiāofáng · firefighting

Words with 化

变化biànhuà · change文化wénhuà · culture化学huàxué · chemistry化验huàyàn · laboratory test化妆huàzhuāng · to put on make-up恶化èhuà · to worsen简化jiǎnhuà · to simplify进化jìnhuà · evolution化肥huàféi · chemical fertiliser化石huàshí · fossil

More words: People, Body & Health

手指shǒuzhǐ · finger寿命shòumìng · life span受伤shòushāng · to be injured胃wèi · stomach心脏xīnzàng · heart胸xiōng · chest血xuè · blood牙齿yáchǐ · tooth

FAQs

消化 (xiāohuà) means “to digest (food or information)” or “to digest (food)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it xiāohuà: xiāo with a 1st tone, then huà with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 消化 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaohua with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 消化 from the suggestions. Typing xiaohua into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
消化 is an HSK 5 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.