HSK 4 · Adjectives

严重 yánzhòng “grave” in Chinese

Traditional 嚴重

What 严重 means

  1. grave
  2. serious
  3. severe
  4. critical

How to say 严重

  • 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重zhòng4th tone, falling

严重 in a sentence

  1. 我对花生严重过敏。

    Wǒ duì huāshēng yánzhòng guòmǐn.

    I’m severely allergic to peanuts.

    Sentence #13545618 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 考试的时候我犯了很严重的错误。

    Kǎoshì de shíhou wǒ fàn le hěn yánzhòng de cuòwù.

    I made a serious mistake in the exam.

    Sentence #1319827 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这个问题有多严重？

    Zhè ge wèntí yǒu duō yánzhòng?

    How serious is the problem?

    Sentence #12804047 from Tatoeba

How 严重 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 重 (zhòng) with each of its parts in a different colour
重zhòngheavy
  • 千thousand · qiān
  • 里village · lǐ

How to write 严重

严 7 strokes · 重 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 严重

Words with 严

严格yángé · strict严肃yánsù · solemn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

Words with 重

重要zhòngyào · important重zhòng · heavy重视zhòngshì · to take seriously尊重zūnzhòng · to esteem重点zhòngdiǎn · key point重新chóngxīn · again重复chóngfù · to repeat重大zhòngdà · major重量zhòngliàng · weight保重bǎozhòng · to take care of oneself

More words: Adjectives

香xiāng · fragrant相同xiāngtóng · the same详细xiángxì · detailed严格yángé · strict勇敢yǒnggǎn · brave优点yōudiǎn · strong point优秀yōuxiù · outstanding幽默yōumò · humour

FAQs

严重 (yánzhòng) means “grave” or “serious”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it yánzhòng: yán with a 2nd tone, then zhòng 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, 严重 is written 嚴重. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yanzhong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 严重 from the suggestions. Typing yanzhong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
严重 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.