HSK 6 · Verbs

意识 yìshi “consciousness” in Chinese

Traditional 意識

What 意识 means

  1. consciousness
  2. awareness
  3. to realise
  4. (usu. followed by 到) to be aware of

How to say 意识

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale意yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own识shineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

意识 in a sentence

  1. 那个时候我才意识到我把钱包忘在家里了。

    Nà ge shíhou wǒ cái yìshi dào wǒ bǎ qiánbāo wàng zài jiālǐ le.

    Only then did I realise I’d left my wallet at home.

    Sentence #336015 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 奇怪的是我从未意识到这一点。

    Qíguài de shì wǒ cóngwèi yìshi dào zhè yì diǎn.

    Strangely, I’d never realised that before.

    Sentence #8558110 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他恢复了意识，还能开口说话了。

    Tā huīfù le yìshi, hái néng kāikǒu shuōhuà le.

    He regained consciousness and was able to speak again.

    Sentence #1889328 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 意识 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 意 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
意yìidea; thought; meaning; sense
  • 音sound · yīnSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 音 (yīn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

Memory aidA sound 音 from the heart 心: a thought, a meaning.

The character 识 (shí) with each of its parts in a different colour
识shíto knowlight in 意识
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 只only · zhǐSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 只 (zhǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with shi.

How to write 意识

意 13 strokes · 识 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 意识

Words with 意

意思yìsi · meaning没意思méiyìsi · boring有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed同意tóngyì · agree愿意yuànyì · be willing注意zhùyì · pay attention to满意mǎnyì · satisfied意见yìjiàn · idea得意déyì · proud of oneself

Words with 识

认识rènshi · to know (someone)知识zhīshi · knowledge常识chángshí · common sense识别shíbié · to identify见多识广jiànduōshíguǎng · well-informed and experienced

More words: Thinking & Talking

验证yànzhèng · to verify意料yìliào · expectation隐瞒yǐnmán · to conceal引用yǐnyòng · to quote意味着yìwèizhe · to mean拥护yōnghù · to support预料yùliào · to expect酝酿yùnniàng · to brew

FAQs

意识 (yìshi) means “consciousness” or “awareness”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yìshi: yì with a 4th tone, then shi with a neutral 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, 意识 is written 意識. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yishi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 意识 from the suggestions. Typing yishi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
意识 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.