HSK 5 · Family

兄弟 xiōngdì “brothers” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 兄弟 means

  1. brothers
  2. younger brother
  3. I, me (humble term used by men in public speech)
  4. brotherly
  5. fraternal

Measure word 个 gè · 一个兄弟 yí ge xiōngdì

How to say 兄弟

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale兄xiōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale弟dì4th tone, falling

兄弟 in a sentence

  1. 他们是兄弟吗？

    Tāmen shì xiōngdì ma?

    Are they brothers?

    Sentence #11706394 from Tatoeba

  2. 两兄弟都是音乐家。

    Liǎng xiōngdì dōu shì yīnyuèjiā.

    Both brothers are musicians.

    Sentence #429185 from Tatoeba

  3. 兄弟 can also be a friendly way to address a man, like “mate”

    兄弟，你到底姓什么啊？

    Xiōngdì, nǐ dàodǐ xìng shénme a?

    Mate, what’s your surname, anyway?

    Sentence #4835903 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 兄弟 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 兄 (xiōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
兄xiōngelder brother
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 儿legs · ér
The character 弟 (dì) drawn as one shape
弟dìyounger brother

弟 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 兄弟

兄 5 strokes · 弟 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 兄弟

Words with 弟

弟弟dìdi · younger brother徒弟túdì · apprentice

More words: People, Body & Health

双方shuāngfāng · both sides太太tàitai · wife外公wàigōng · grandpa (mother’s father)吻wěn · kiss英雄yīngxióng · hero拥抱yōngbào · to embrace长辈zhǎngbèi · elder主人zhǔrén · master

FAQs

兄弟 (xiōngdì) means “brothers” or “younger brother”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it xiōngdì: xiōng with a 1st tone, then dì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 兄弟 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one brothers is 一个兄弟 (yí ge xiōngdì).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiongdi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 兄弟 from the suggestions. Typing xiongdi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
兄弟 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.