HSK 4 · Family

小伙子 xiǎohuǒzi “young man” in Chinese

Said as xiáohuǒzi

Traditional 小夥子

What 小伙子 means

  1. young man
  2. young guy
  3. (coll.) young man
  4. young fellow
  5. lad

How to say 小伙子

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale小xiǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale伙huǒ3rd tone, dipping
  • 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

Said as xiáohuǒzi. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

小伙子 in a sentence

  1. 小伙子,在这儿干嘛呢?

    Xiǎohuǒzi, zài zhèr gànmá ne?

    What are you doing here, young man?

    Sentence #12310604 from Tatoeba

  2. 这小伙子既能干又积极,真是没说的。

    Zhè xiǎohuǒzi jì nénggàn yòu jījí, zhēn shì méi shuō de.

    This young man is capable and keen – you really can’t fault him.

    Sentence #3709324 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 她看不起这个小伙子。

    Tā kànbuqǐ zhè ge xiǎohuǒzi.

    She looks down on this young man.

    Sentence #404450 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 小伙子 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 小 (xiǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
小xiǎosmall
  • 亅hook · jué
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidThree small strokes, like grains: small.

The character 伙 (huǒ) with each of its parts in a different colour
伙huǒmeals
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 火fire · huǒSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 火 (huǒ) hints at the sound. Compare it with huǒ.

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 小伙子

小 3 strokes · 伙 6 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.

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

Words related to 小伙子

Words with 小

Words with 伙

Words with 子

More words: People, Body & Health

FAQs

小伙子 (xiǎohuǒzi) means “young man” or “young guy”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it xiǎohuǒzi: xiǎo with a 3rd tone, then huǒ with a 3rd tone, then zi with a neutral tone. In speech it sounds like xiáohuǒzi. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. 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, 小伙子 is written 小夥子. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaohuozi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 小伙子 from the suggestions. Typing xiaohuozi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
小伙子 is an HSK 4 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.