HSK 5 · Verbs

展开 zhǎnkāi “to unfold” in Chinese

Traditional 展開

What 展开 means

  1. to unfold
  2. to spread out
  3. to open up
  4. to launch
  5. to carry out

How to say 展开

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale展zhǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale开kāi1st tone, high and level

展开 in a sentence

  1. 已展开调查。

    Yǐ zhǎnkāi diàochá.

    An investigation has been launched.

    Sentence #13206709 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 我们分散开来并在树林中展开搜索。

    Wǒmen fēnsàn kāilai bìng zài shùlín zhōng zhǎnkāi sōusuǒ.

    We spread out and began searching the woods.

    Sentence #1409364 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 展开 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 展 (zhǎn) drawn as one shape
展zhǎnto spread out

展 is a single shape of 10 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 开 (kāi) with each of its parts in a different colour
开kāito open
  • 一one · yī
  • 廾two hands · gǒng

Memory aidSimplified from 開: two hands lifting the bar of a gate 門: to open.

How to write 展开

展 10 strokes · 开 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 展开

Words with 展

发展fāzhǎn · development展览zhǎnlǎn · to put on display开展kāizhǎn · to launch施展shīzhǎn · to make full use of展示zhǎnshì · to display展现zhǎnxiàn · to show进展jìnzhǎn · progress展望zhǎnwàng · outlook

Words with 开

开kāi · to open开车kāichē · to drive a car开始kāishǐ · to begin开学kāixué · to start a new school term打开dǎkāi · to open离开líkāi · leave开会kāihuì · to have a meeting开花kāihuā · to bloom分开fēnkāi · to separate开机kāijī · to switch on (a device)

More words: Common Verbs

造成zàochéng · to bring about摘zhāi · to pick (fruit占zhàn · to occupy粘贴zhāntiē · to paste掌握zhǎngwò · to master招待zhāodài · to hold a reception着火zháohuǒ · to catch fire召开zhàokāi · to convene (a conference or meeting)

FAQs

展开 (zhǎnkāi) means “to unfold” or “to spread out”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it zhǎnkāi: zhǎn with a 3rd tone, then kāi with a 1st 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, 展开 is written 展開. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhankai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 展开 from the suggestions. Typing zhankai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
展开 is an HSK 5 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.