HSK 6 · Verbs

折腾 zhēteng “to toss and turn” in Chinese

Traditional 折騰

What 折腾 means

  1. to toss and turn
  2. to do over and over
  3. to torment
  4. to toss from side to side (e.g. sleeplessly)
  5. to repeat sth over and over again
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to torment sb
  • to squander (time, money)

How to say 折腾

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale折zhē1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own腾tengneutral tone, light and short

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

折腾 in a sentence

  1. 他一晚上翻来覆去地折腾，没睡着。

    Tā yì wǎnshang fānláifùqù de zhēteng, méi shuìzháo.

    He tossed and turned all night and couldn’t get to sleep.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这台电脑我折腾了半天也没修好。

    Zhè tái diànnǎo wǒ zhēteng le bàntiān yě méi xiūhǎo.

    I spent ages fiddling with this computer and still couldn’t fix it.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 折腾 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 折 (zhé) with each of its parts in a different colour
折zhēto turn sth over
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
  • 斤axe · jīn
The character 腾 (teng) with each of its parts in a different colour
腾tengto gallop; to prance
  • 朕part of the characterSound part
  • 马horse · mǎMeaning part

How to write 折腾

折 7 strokes · 腾 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 折腾

Words with 折

打折dǎzhé · to give a discount折zhé · to break折磨zhémo · to torment曲折qūzhé · winding挫折cuòzhé · setback周折zhōuzhé · twists and turns转折zhuǎnzhé · turning point

Words with 腾

沸腾fèiténg · to boil

More words: Common Verbs

折磨zhémo · to torment争夺zhēngduó · to fight over征服zhēngfú · to conquer挣扎zhēngzhá · to struggle支撑zhīchēng · to support指定zhǐdìng · to appoint支配zhīpèi · to control支援zhīyuán · to support

FAQs

折腾 (zhēteng) means “to toss and turn” or “to do over and over”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zhēteng: zhē with a 1st tone, then teng 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, 折腾 is written 折騰. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zheteng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 折腾 from the suggestions. Typing zheteng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
折腾 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.