HSK 6 · Adjectives

小心翼翼 xiǎoxīnyìyì “very carefully” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 小心翼翼 means

  1. very carefully
  2. cautiously
  3. (idiom) cautious
  4. careful
  5. prudent

How to say 小心翼翼

  • 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 first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale心xīn1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale翼yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale翼yì4th tone, falling

小心翼翼 in a sentence

  1. 她小心翼翼地走。

    Tā xiǎoxīnyìyì de zǒu.

    She walked very carefully.

    Sentence #1395107 from Tatoeba

  2. 我妈妈小心翼翼地打开门。

    Wǒ māma xiǎoxīnyìyì de dǎkāi mén.

    My mum opened the door very carefully.

    Sentence #4859714 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 老人小心翼翼地过了马路。

    Lǎorén xiǎoxīnyìyì de guò le mǎlù.

    The old man crossed the road carefully.

    Sentence #7774354 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 小心翼翼 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 心 (xīn) drawn as one shape
心xīnheart

心 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a heart. On the left of a character it is written 忄.

The character 翼 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
翼yìwing
  • 羽feather · yǔMeaning part
  • 異differentSound part

羽 hints at the meaning (feather); 異 () hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

The character 翼 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
翼yìwing
  • 羽feather · yǔMeaning part
  • 異differentSound part

羽 hints at the meaning (feather); 異 () hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

How to write 小心翼翼

小 3 strokes · 心 4 strokes · 翼 17 strokes

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

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

Words related to 小心翼翼

Words with 小

小xiǎo · small小姐xiǎojiě · miss小学xiǎoxué · elementary school小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child小时xiǎoshí · hour从小cóngxiǎo · from childhood小孩儿xiǎoháir · child小时候xiǎoshíhou · in one’s childhood小心xiǎoxīn · be careful

Words with 心

担心dānxīn · to worry放心fàngxīn · relax关心guānxīn · concerned about/with小心xiǎoxīn · be careful心里xīnlǐ · in one’s heart心xīn · heart伤心shāngxīn · to grieve粗心cūxīn · careless耐心nàixīn · to be patient开心kāixīn · to feel happy

Words with 翼

翼yì · wing

More words: Adjectives

先进xiānjìn · advanced鲜明xiānmíng · distinct显著xiǎnzhù · notable潇洒xiāosǎ · free and easy狭窄xiázhǎi · narrow性感xìnggǎn · sexy兴旺xīngwàng · prosperous辛勤xīnqín · hardworking

FAQs

小心翼翼 (xiǎoxīnyìyì) means “very carefully” or “cautiously”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it xiǎoxīnyìyì: xiǎo with a 3rd tone, then xīn with a 1st tone, then yì with a 4th tone, then yì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 小心翼翼 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaoxinyiyi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 小心翼翼 from the suggestions. Typing xiaoxinyiyi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
小心翼翼 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.