HSK 5 · Adjectives

严肃 yánsù “solemn” in Chinese

Traditional 嚴肅

What 严肃 means

  1. solemn
  2. grave
  3. (of an atmosphere etc) solemn
  4. serious
  5. (of a manner etc) earnest
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • severe
  • exacting
  • to strictly enforce

How to say 严肃

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale严yán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale肃sù4th tone, falling

严肃 in a sentence

  1. 我们在严肃地谈论你的未来。

    Wǒmen zài yánsù de tánlùn nǐ de wèilái.

    We’re having a serious talk about your future.

    Sentence #1397126 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 不要和我开玩笑。我是很严肃的。

    Búyào hé wǒ kāiwánxiào. Wǒ shì hěn yánsù de.

    Don’t joke with me. I’m serious.

    Sentence #4844734 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 现在让我们谈谈严肃的事情吧！

    Xiànzài ràng wǒmen tántán yánsù de shìqing ba!

    Now let’s talk about something serious!

    Sentence #7771999 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 严肃 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 严 (yán) with each of its parts in a different colour
严yántight
  • 亚Asia · yà
  • 厂cliff · hǎn
The character 肃 (sù) drawn as one shape
肃sùrespectful

肃 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 严肃

严 7 strokes · 肃 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 严肃

Words with 严

严格yángé · strict严重yánzhòng · grave严峻yánjùn · severe严厉yánlì · strict严密yánmì · tight庄严zhuāngyán · solemn严禁yánjìn · to strictly prohibit严寒yánhán · bitter cold尊严zūnyán · dignity

More words: Adjectives

孝顺xiàoshùn · filial斜xié · inclined虚心xūxīn · open-minded迅速xùnsù · rapid硬yìng · hard一致yízhì · consistent意外yìwài · unexpected英俊yīngjùn · handsome

FAQs

严肃 (yánsù) means “solemn” or “grave”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it yánsù: yán with a 2nd tone, then sù with a 4th tone. 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, 严肃 is written 嚴肅. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yansu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 严肃 from the suggestions. Typing yansu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
严肃 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.