HSK 6 · Time

元宵节 Yuánxiāojié “Lantern Festival” in Chinese

Traditional 元宵節

What 元宵节 means

  1. Lantern Festival
  2. Lantern Festival, the final event of the Spring Festival 春节, on 15th of first month of the lunar calendar

How to say 元宵节

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale元Yuán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale宵xiāo1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale节jié2nd tone, rising

元宵节 in a sentence

  1. 元宵节要猜灯谜。

    Yuánxiāojié yào cāi dēngmí.

    People guess lantern riddles at the Lantern Festival.

    Sentence #5854684 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 元宵节 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 元 (yuán) with each of its parts in a different colour
元yuáncurrency unitYuán in 元宵节
  • 二two · èr
  • 儿legs · ér

Memory aidA person 儿 with the head marked on top 二: the head, the first. Today it is also China’s main unit of money.

The character 宵 (xiāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
宵xiāonight
  • 宀roof · miánMeaning part
  • 肖to resemble · xiàoSound part

宀 hints at the meaning (roof); 肖 (xiào) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiāo.

The character 节 (jié) drawn as one shape
节jiéjoint; node

节 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidSimplified from 節, the joints of bamboo ⺮ (the simplified form has 艹 on top). From there, a section, and a festival.

How to write 元宵节

元 4 strokes · 宵 10 strokes · 节 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 元宵节

Words with 元

元yuán · Chinese monetary unit公元gōngyuán · CE (Common Era)元旦Yuándàn · New Year’s Day单元dānyuán · unit (forming an entity)元首yuánshǒu · head of state元素yuánsù · element多元化duōyuánhuà · diversification

Words with 节

季节jìjié · season节目jiémù · programme节日jiérì · holiday过节guòjié · to celebrate a festival节jié · festival节约jiéyuē · to economise节省jiéshěng · to save细节xìjié · details国庆节Guóqìngjié · PRC National Day (October 1st)节制jiézhì · to control

More words: Time & Sequence

延续yánxù · to continue一度yídù · once以往yǐwǎng · in the past原先yuánxiān · originally预先yùxiān · in advance暂且zànqiě · for the time being正月zhēngyuè · first month of the lunar year终身zhōngshēn · lifelong

FAQs

元宵节 (Yuánxiāojié) means “Lantern Festival” or “Lantern Festival, the final event of the Spring Festival 春节, on 15th of first month of the lunar calendar”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it Yuánxiāojié: Yuán with a 2nd tone, then xiāo with a 1st tone, then jié 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, 元宵节 is written 元宵節. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yuanxiaojie with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 元宵节 from the suggestions. Typing yuanxiaojie into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
元宵节 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.