HSK 4 · Nature

植物 zhíwù “plant” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 植物 means

  1. plant
  2. vegetation

Measure word 种 zhǒng · 一种植物 yì zhǒng zhíwù

How to say 植物

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale植zhí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale物wù4th tone, falling

植物 in a sentence

  1. 为什么植物是绿色的？

    Wèishénme zhíwù shì lǜsè de?

    Why are plants green?

    Sentence #13954797 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 由于缺水，许多植物干枯了。

    Yóuyú quēshuǐ, xǔduō zhíwù gānkū le.

    Many plants withered because of a lack of water.

    Sentence #6082277 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 别忘记浇植物。

    Bié wàngjì jiāo zhíwù.

    Don’t forget to water the plants.

    Sentence #8899430 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 植物 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 植 (zhí) with each of its parts in a different colour
植zhíto plant
  • 木tree · mùMeaning part
  • 直straight · zhíSound part

木 hints at the meaning (tree); 直 (zhí) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhí.

The character 物 (wù) with each of its parts in a different colour
物wùthing
  • 牛cow · niúMeaning part
  • 勿must not · wùSound part

牛 hints at the meaning (cow); 勿 (wù) hints at the sound. Compare it with wù.

Memory aidAn ox 牛, which the oldest Chinese dictionary calls the largest of things, with 勿 (wù) for the sound: a thing.

How to write 植物

植 12 strokes · 物 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 植物

Words with 植

种植zhòngzhí · to plant

Words with 物

动物dòngwù · animal礼物lǐwù · gift动物园dòngwùyuán · zoo购物gòuwù · shopping宠物chǒngwù · house pet人物rénwù · figure食物shíwù · food物理wùlǐ · physics物质wùzhì · matter事物shìwù · thing

More words: Nature, Animals & Weather

草cǎo · grass动物dòngwù · animal刮风guāfēng · windy温度wēndù · temperature阳光yángguāng · sunshine叶子yèzi · leaf云yún · cloud自然zìrán · nature

FAQs

植物 (zhíwù) means “plant” or “vegetation”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it zhíwù: zhí with a 2nd tone, then wù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 植物 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 种 (zhǒng). For example, one plant is 一种植物 (yì zhǒng zhíwù).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhiwu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 植物 from the suggestions. Typing zhiwu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
植物 is an HSK 4 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.