HSK 6 · Adjectives

异常 yìcháng “abnormal” in Chinese

Traditional 異常

What 异常 means

  1. abnormal
  2. unusual
  3. extremely
  4. exceptionally

How to say 异常

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale异yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale常cháng2nd tone, rising

异常 in a sentence

  1. 天气异常寒冷。

    Tiānqì yìcháng hánlěng.

    The weather is unusually cold.

    Sentence #9089093 from Tatoeba

  2. 今年的天气一直异常。

    Jīnnián de tiānqì yìzhí yìcháng.

    The weather has been abnormal all year.

    Sentence #907544 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 环境污染正造成异常的天气情况。

    Huánjìng wūrǎn zhèng zàochéng yìcháng de tiānqì qíngkuàng.

    Environmental pollution is causing abnormal weather conditions.

    Sentence #797018 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 异常 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 异 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
异yìdifferent
  • 巳part of the character
  • 廾two hands · gǒng
The character 常 (cháng) with each of its parts in a different colour
常chángalways
  • 尚still · shàngSound part
  • 巾napkin · jīnMeaning part

巾 hints at the meaning (napkin); 尚 (shàng) hints at the sound. Compare it with cháng.

Memory aidCloth 巾 with 尚 (shàng) for the sound. Its first meaning was a skirt; now it means “often, usual”.

How to write 异常

异 6 strokes · 常 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 异常

Words with 异

Words with 常

More words: Adjectives

FAQs

异常 (yìcháng) means “abnormal” or “unusual”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yìcháng: yì with a 4th tone, then cháng with a 2nd 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, 异常 is written 異常. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yichang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 异常 from the suggestions. Typing yichang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
异常 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.