HSK 4 · Technology

消息 xiāoxi “news” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 消息 means

  1. news
  2. information
  3. (piece of) news
  4. message

Measure word 条 tiáo · 一条消息 yì tiáo xiāoxi

How to say 消息

  • 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 neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own息xineutral tone, light and short

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

消息 in a sentence

  1. 听到她成功的消息,他很高兴。

    Tīngdào tā chénggōng de xiāoxi, tā hěn gāoxìng.

    He was happy to hear the news of her success.

    Sentence #332579 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你最近有他的消息吗?

    Nǐ zuìjìn yǒu tā de xiāoxi ma?

    Have you heard from him lately?

    Sentence #839557 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 如果这条消息很重要,那就打电话告诉他。

    Rúguǒ zhè tiáo xiāoxi hěn zhòngyào, nà jiù dǎ diànhuà gàosu tā.

    If the message is important, phone him.

    Sentence #2023485 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 消息 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 息 (xī) with each of its parts in a different colour
息xībreathlight in 消息
  • 自self · zì
  • 心heart · xīn

How to write 消息

消 10 strokes · 息 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 消息

Words with 消

Words with 息

More words: Technology & Media

FAQs

消息 (xiāoxi) means “news” or “information”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it xiāoxi: xiāo with a 1st tone, then xi with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 消息 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 条 (tiáo). For example, one news is 一条消息 (yì tiáo xiāoxi).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaoxi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 消息 from the suggestions. Typing xiaoxi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
消息 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.