HSK 6 · Adjectives

斩钉截铁 zhǎndīngjiétiě “resolute and decisive” in Chinese

Traditional 斬釘截鐵

What 斩钉截铁 means

  1. resolute and decisive
  2. categorical
  3. (lit.) to chop the nail and slice the iron (idiom)
  4. (fig.) resolute and decisive
  5. unhesitating

How to say 斩钉截铁

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale斩zhǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale钉dīng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale截jié2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale铁tiě3rd tone, dipping

斩钉截铁 in a sentence

  1. 我斩钉截铁地拒绝了。

    Wǒ zhǎndīngjiétiě de jùjué le.

    I flatly refused.

    Sentence #414045 from Tatoeba

How 斩钉截铁 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 斩 (zhǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
斩zhǎnto behead
  • 车cart · chēSound part
  • 斤axe · jīnMeaning part

斤 hints at the meaning (axe); 车 (chē) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhǎn.

The character 钉 (dīng) with each of its parts in a different colour
钉dīngnail
  • 钅gold form of 金 · jīn
  • 丁part of the character
The character 截 (jié) with each of its parts in a different colour
截jiéto cut off
  • 十ten · shí
  • 戈halberd · gē
  • 隹short-tailed bird · zhuī
The character 铁 (tiě) with each of its parts in a different colour
铁tiěiron
  • 钅gold form of 金 · jīnMeaning part
  • 失to lose · shīSound part

钅 hints at the meaning (gold); 失 (shī) hints at the sound. Compare it with tiě.

How to write 斩钉截铁

斩 8 strokes · 钉 7 strokes · 截 14 strokes · 铁 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 斩钉截铁

Words with 截

截至jiézhì · up to截止jiézhǐ · to end

Words with 铁

地铁dìtiě · subway高铁gāotiě · high-speed rail钢铁gāngtiě · steel

More words: Adjectives

圆满yuánmǎn · satisfactory原始yuánshǐ · original愚蠢yúchǔn · stupid愚昧yúmèi · ignorant崭新zhǎnxīn · brand-new朝气蓬勃zhāoqìpéngbó · full of vigour扎实zhāshi · solid镇定zhèndìng · calm

FAQs

斩钉截铁 (zhǎndīngjiétiě) means “resolute and decisive” or “categorical”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zhǎndīngjiétiě: zhǎn with a 3rd tone, then dīng with a 1st tone, then jié with a 2nd tone, then tiě with a 3rd 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, 斩钉截铁 is written 斬釘截鐵. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhandingjietie with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 斩钉截铁 from the suggestions. Typing zhandingjietie into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
斩钉截铁 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.